Who Everyone Thinks I Am
by TheWorldWillCatchFire
Summary: Modern-ish AU, Sort of Sci-Fi: Peeta Mellark has been treated like an outsider his whole life, but that's because he's been living with a major secret. For four days out of every month he must turn into a girl. Can he figure out how to make this change stop? To add to that he also meets Katniss Everdeen, the first girl he feels comfortable with. Will he tell her his secret?
1. Chapter 1

Prologue:

_So it's my first semester here at UF and although I'm expecting to flourish academically I can't say I'm enjoying the much talked about social scene. See the thing with me is that I've always been labeled as the outcast. When we grow up, we're all trying to figure out who we are. Some of us already know. Other people label some people. The frat bro. The sorority sister. The average Joe. The nerd. The hipster. The list of labels is far too long, but I've learned no one knows who you are until you know yourself. Me? I know who I want to be, but I'm hung up on who everyone thinks I am. I shouldn't even care what they think they're wrong. They don't know my story or me. _

_Before I snap out of my soliloquy I better explain to you my story –Oh and another thing about me, I like to have internal monologues to a non-existing audience. Cinema has always fascinated me, so I constantly feel the need to break the fourth wall. No I'm not crazy by talking to myself, I simply like to think of it as an internal journal –now back to my story. _

_When I was born my mom was really disappointed. See, she already had two sons so what she really wanted was a daughter. When I was born I basically pissed on her hopes and dreams. Now I was born on November 11, at 11:11 PM. I'm not saying that's the reason for everything but my mom (prior to my birth) tried to genetically engineer me so that I'd be a girl. When that didn't work, she wished the minute I was born that I'd be a girl. According to my older brothers when I arrived home I was Peeta Mellark, the boy, but the next day when everyone woke up, I was Pippa Mellark, mommy's little girl. _

_Okay, now I would understand why you'd think I'm crazy, but I swear it happened. My mom was overjoyed because she finally had a girl. However, that only lasted for four days. Then I was back to Peeta, rejected again by my mother. As I grew up my family realized that every month I would have to be a girl for four days. It was difficult with school and everything at first, but when I hit puberty, I realized that I could control which four days I wanted to spend as girl. That meant I could choose days that I wasn't in school if I wanted. The school never questioned my absences because I had a "doctor's note" explaining a fake medical condition that required me to leave for one to four days of the month. If I didn't pick which days I wanted to be a girl, then I would automatically have to be one for the last four days of the month. _

_I resented my mom for what she did to me, but I've been trying to figure out on my own how to stop the transformations. So far I've had no luck. My hypothesis is that my will to stay male was so strong that I rejected complete transformation as a female and instead I just have to become one for four days out of the month. I call it "male menstruation" or my "manstruation." _

_I have no problem with girls, in fact I am straight, so I really do like them. However, I would just rather be a male. This has nothing to do with my sexuality. I was just born a male and I'd like to stay that way. My brothers Rye and Bing say I should embrace being able to be a female, but knowing them they are just saying that because they'd just stare at their own bodies the whole time. _

_Luckily, I've been accepted as a biochemistry major at the University of Florida. I have also been accepted to do some research of my own while I'm at UF that centralizes around my condition. I've already explained to the head of the department, Mr. Haymitch Abernathy, my condition, which led to my research position. He was skeptical at first, but after a review of my academic record and a visit to UF where I showed him my female self, he understood I wasn't joking. He also wrote a letter to each of my fall semester professors explaining what was happening so that I wouldn't get marked of for attendance when I'm Pippa. To everyone else, it's a secret. My professors understood and they also knew that they couldn't share this information with anyone. _

_I don't usually inform this many people. But I didn't have any other choice. In two days I start classes. I have chem, human sexuality, and calculus the first day. I'm excited for this semester, but I'm really dreading the dorms. It's hard enough sharing a room as a normal human being, but since I have that weird transformation condition, this will only further complicate things. I move in today so we'll see how that goes. _

CHAPTER 1:

Mr. Mellark pulled up to the hall and Peeta made his way to the office on the first floor to pick up his keys. As he waited for the person behind the desk, he took in the room around him. It was painted lime green with silver mailboxes lined up on the walls. There was a coin machine to change cash into coins in the right corner of the room. There were also several couches in the right side of the room and tables with chairs on the left side. The walls without mailboxes had modern looking paintings that attempted to make the lobby area seem more "college like."

The man behind the counter cleared his throat causing Peeta to jump a little and turn his attention to the man.

"Name and floor," He said.

"Peeta Mellark, and I'm on the first floor," Peeta responded.

"Here are your keys, scan card to access the floor, and complimentary welcome box courtesy of the school," he said as he handed Peeta the previously mentioned items.

"Thanks."

"No problem, I'm Gale Hawthorne. I'm the Resident Adviser of your floor, well just the males of your floor." He said.

"Nice to meet you," Peeta smiled, as he took a mental picture of Gale since he would probably be seeing more of him. He was tall, dark haired, grey eyed, and tan.

Peeta walked back outside towards his dad. He helped his dad unload the car and carry things up to the dorm. The staircase leading to the first floor was nowhere near as nice as the lobby. The tiles were faded, some were broken, and some tiles didn't even match the others. He silently hoped the actual hall wasn't as ugly. Lucky for him, it wasn't.

When he entered the floor he saw several girls exit out of the room across from the door. They giggled as they walked down the hall.

"_Oh great, I forgot this floor was co-ed," _He thought to himself. "_As if a roommate wasn't distracting enough."_

He found the door that said 121 and saw Peeta and Cato written on the door. Peeta opened the door and sighed as he took in the room. His roommate was big, blonde, and muscular. He was definitely someone Peeta didn't want to butt heads with and he didn't look like the type of person Peeta usually associated himself with.

"Sup, I'm Cato," He introduced himself, holding out a hand for Peeta to shake.

"Peeta," He said, shaking Cato's hand.

Mr. Mellark shook Cato's hand next and the room fell quiet.

"Well, I've got to finish unloading the car," Peeta said, breaking the silence. He opened the door and walked down the hall.

As he walked towards the door leading to the staircase, he saw a girl, who looked about fourteen, exit one of the rooms. She had blonde hair that was in two braids, blue eyes, and a lanyard around her neck with keys on them and a student ID card. From what Peeta could see, he knew the ID didn't belong to the blonde girl. She must've been someone's sister, he decided. A few seconds later, a blonde woman, most likely in her forties, opened the same door and called out to the girl.

"Prim, wait. You still have your sister's keys around your neck," the blonde woman called out.

"Well how else am I supposed to get back in, mom?" the blonde girl, who must be Prim, asked.

Without thinking Peeta tapped Prim's shoulder and said, "I'm going downstairs to get a few things, I can let you back in if you want."

She looked at Peeta hesitantly before she smiled and agreed. As they walked downstairs, the girl introduced herself as Primrose Everdeen.

"I'm here helping my sister unpack," She said, as she pushed the ground floor door open.

"That's nice of you. My brothers are older then me, so they didn't really feel the need to help me since I helped them move into their dorms," he said, trying to make conversation.

Prim went to her own car and grabbed a box while Peeta picked up two bags from his own car. On their way back upstairs Prim talked about how she wanted to apply, when the time came, to UF and possibly apply to their medical school. She hoped to one day be a doctor. Peeta smiled at her enthusiasm while she talked. They parted ways when they reached the first floor and Peeta entered his own room.

"_Of course, the one person who actually wants to talk to me doesn't even go here!" _He thought to himself as he setup his side of the room.

Peeta had his side nice and organized. His bed sheets were dark green and he had matching green pillows. He put up a poster of the periodic table that had different alcoholic drinks, and although he wasn't too much of a drinker himself, he still found it comical.

Cato had camouflage bed sheets and graphic posters of women. "_Disgusting," _Peeta thought. "_Everyone's entitled to their own forms of expression and decoration, but he should respect women more. And I'm not just saying that because I am one 1/8 of the month."_

The afternoon turned to night in a short time. Cato asked Peeta if he wanted to go with him to a frat party, but Peeta politely declined. It wasn't really something he had interest in.

"Are you sure? It's gonna be awesome man!" Cato exclaimed as he chugged a beer. Evidently he was pre-gaming.

"No, I'm alright. I'm just gonna go walk around and explore campus," he said, trying to hide his disgust.

Peeta slipped on his shoes then made his way out the hall. When he got to the ground floor he checked his phone for the time. "_8 pm, I should probably get back by 10," _he thought to himself.

He followed the sidewalk, not really walking with a purpose. The campus was big, but not too big. It had several dining halls, many resident halls, and two gyms. Peeta walked to the football stadium and slipped through the gate. He knew he wasn't supposed to be in the stadium at this time, but he didn't think anyone else would be there. He made his way down the steps to the field and hopped the small wall separating the stands and the field. He hopped the fence and walked towards the center of the field. It was nice out; the air was humid, but bearable. He sat down on the grass and laid back, breathing in the night air.

He felt himself drift off, but just as he was about to fall asleep he heard someone else walking on the field.

"Hey there, taking a nap on the field?" The bronze haired stranger asked while looking down at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Peeta panicked, as he hopped to his feet.

"Relax," he said holding up his hands, "I don't care, I was just curious as to what you were doing. Finnick Odair, by the way." He held a hand out to Peeta to grab and pulled Peeta up when he did.

"Peeta Mellark," Peeta said, wiping the grass off his butt.

"Usually I prefer relaxing in the pool, but since the pools are closed for now, I thought I'd check this place out. Looks like I wasn't the only one with that idea," Finnick said, smiling. He seemed like a friendly guy.

"Yeah, I was just checking out the campus." Peeta said, while looking around at the field.

"So are you a freshman?" Finnick asked.

"Yeah, is it that obvious?" He asked, staring at the ground and kicking a longer patch of grass.

"Nah, I'm a freshman too so I just thought I'd ask. I think most upperclassmen have better ways to spend their time than just hanging out on a field. What hall are you in?" He asked, walking towards the fence.

"Hall 12, and you?" Peeta followed.

"Hall 4. It's pretty sweet. I was here over the summer and stayed in hall 2. Right now it's being renovated though. That was probably one of the nicest dorms they have on campus." He said, lifting himself on the fence. He swung his leg over and hopped down, waiting for Peeta to join him.

"Was summer nice?" Peeta asked, as he jumped and landed on his feet. He wiped the dirt off his hands and looked for the exit of the stadium.

Finnick pointed in the direction of the exit and answered, "summer was great, actually. I met my girlfriend, Annie, over summer semester so that definitely made it a lot more fun. How about you? Do you have a girlfriend?"

Peeta chuckled and shook his head. "No, I don't really have the time. I have a very time consuming research position this semester, so I really need to focus on that."

"_There are also a few other factors, like the fact that I can't tell a girl that I turn into one, that limits me from having a girlfriend," _Peeta thought to himself, walking towards the stadium exit with Finnick.

"Dude, that's awesome!" Finnick exclaimed. "A research position freshman year is practically unheard of. You must be a genius or something."

"I wouldn't say a genius exactly, but yeah I guess I am pretty gifted." Peeta laughed and ran a hand through his blonde waves.

They had reached the main road outside the stadium and the moon was hung high in the sky, illuminating the night. There were no cars in the road signaling how late at night it was. Peeta glanced down at his phone and realized it was already 10:11 pm.

"Well, it's getting kinda late, but since we're both two pretty lost freshman how about we exchange numbers and get this campus on lock together?" Finnick asked, holding out his phone to Peeta.

"Sounds like a good idea." He entered his number in Finnick's phone and Finnick passed Peeta back his own phone. They headed off into the direction of their own dorms and Peeta thought about how it wouldn't be so bad to have a few friends. He didn't have to work 24/7, so as long as he understood what his main focus was then having a friend or two wouldn't be a problem. He was a nice enough guy.

When Peeta returned to his hall, he showered and got ready for bed. He stared up at the ceiling and wondered what the semester would bring. As thoughts of science, studying, and exercising filled his head, he felt himself drift off.


	2. Chapter 2

The Sunday before classes was very uneventful for Peeta. He sat in his dorm for most of the day and listened to dubstep while he drew in his sketchbook. Drawing was his favorite method of expression and relaxation, so he usually drew whenever he had some free time. Cato had been out of the room for most of the day and only returned to change into an outfit for a frat party. Peeta also found out that Cato was supposed to room with someone named Marvel in hall two, but since hall two was being renovated Cato was forced to stay in hall twelve and Marvel in hall one.

It was about 10 pm, and Peeta hadn't eaten since lunch so he decided he'd bake a snack to hold him over till the next morning. It was too late to cook a full meal, anyway. He stacked all the ingredients in a box and made his way to the kitchen. When he pushed the door open he heard a thump and realized he hit someone with the kitchen door.

"I am so, so sorry!" He exclaimed. Since the flour sack was covering his line of vision he couldn't see the person he hit.

"Yeah, whatever," the stranger murmured. He clearly hit a girl, and judging by the tone in her voice she was not happy at all. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard the kitchen door open and shut, signaling that whoever it was had left. All Peeta saw was a flash of dark brown hair, and that was it.

When he was finished baking his batch of chocolate chip cookies, he left a few on a plate with a note saying: 'To the girl that I hit with the door: Sorry again, here's some cookies!' Hopefully she'd be back in the kitchen sometime soon, since he didn't know which room she was in. Either way, he was sure someone would eat those cookies.

The next day Peeta woke up to the blaring sound of his alarm clock. It read 8:57, but it was actually 8:50 am. He always set his clock seven minutes ahead to give himself a sense of urgency. It was finally the first day of classes, so he eagerly changed, finished prepping and left the dorm.

The chemistry building wasn't too far away and he was twenty minutes early. The lecture hall was huge and there must've been about three hundred students or so in his chemistry class, if that was even possible.

He opted for an empty seat in the middle row of lecture hall that was close to a wall. Once he was settled in the desk, he pulled out his notebook and pen. Based on the teacher's syllabus and explanation of the course, the class seemed like it was do-able if the right amount of work was put into it. He didn't recognize anyone in his class, but that didn't surprise him.

When the class was over, he went to the dining hall to grab some lunch before his 12:45 class. Once again, he didn't recognize anyone in the dining hall and ate alone at an empty table. Peeta was used to being alone, though, minus one or two friends. Once he was finished eating, he cleaned up his table and put the plates and cups in the conveyor belt for the dirty dishes. He finished just in time to make it to class comfortably. The room where his human sexuality course was being held in was actually pretty close dining hall.

Peeta was one of the first people in the class, so he picked a seat towards the middle of the room. The rows were staggered, each row higher than the next. Judging from the amount of seats in the room, he knew this class would be smaller than his chemistry class. Once everyone was seated, he counted about 40 people, maybe a little less. It was still a good amount that the class wouldn't be awkward, given the subject. It wasn't that he was immature when it came to human sexuality and talking about it, however, some people his age still snickered at the mention of a vagina or sex.

The teacher handed everyone in the class a syllabus and was in the middle of reading the course outline when a loud laugh erupted through the room. Everyone turned around to see who the laughing girl was, including Peeta. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her. He couldn't explain what it was that drew her to him, but he just stared at her. She had dark hair, beautiful grey eyes, and tanned, olive skin. A bright red danced across her cheeks when she realized the disruption she had caused.

"I am so sorry!" She cried, holding her hands up apologetically. "I-I was just laughing at something my friend texted me." She obviously didn't want anyone to think she was laughing at what the professor was saying.

Everyone else had turned their attention back to the professor, but Peeta's gaze lingered on the girl a little longer until she realized he was watching her. It was Peeta's turn to blush, as he turned back around. He ran his fingers through his hair nervously and continued to take notes about the syllabus.

When the class finished he hurried out, not only to avoid the girl who laughed, but also because his other class started soon after. Calculus was just what he had expected, boring, but necessary. When that class was over Peeta decided he would go for a run.

There was a lake that stretched for a few miles on campus and there were some woods nearby that had a few trails for jogging. If a person were to venture deep enough into those woods, there was wildlife everywhere. He chose the path next to the lake that led into the woods and turned on his iPod, drowning out the rest of the world. As he neared the mouth of the woods, he saw the girl who laughed in his class earlier. She was wearing boots and a leather jacket to match. She had something that looked like a glove on one of her hands and she looked like she didn't want anyone watching her. Curiosity got the better of him and he ran behind her. She darted behind a bunch of a trees and she was gone just as fast as she appeared. Confused, Peeta ran to his original path.

He had no idea what she was doing and she clearly didn't want anyone else to know. Besides, he couldn't be distracting himself with girls if he wanted to stop becoming one. He really needed to focus on his research. As much as he told himself to focus, the girl who laughed just kept creeping up in his thoughts. Normally crushing on someone he barely knew was stupid to him, but there was just something about her that kept drawing him back. He wanted to know her, the girl who laughed.

That night all Peeta could dream about was the mysterious girl. He felt like a creep when he woke up since he was dreaming about someone he didn't even know. He tried to shake his thoughts, as he got ready for chem lab. Cato was still asleep when Peeta left, which wasn't surprising.

When he entered the chemistry lab, Peeta froze in his tracks. There she was. The girl who laughed was in his lab. He had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn't still in one of his dreams. Her hair was pulled aside in a braid and he couldn't help but notice her black thermal shirt straining in all the right places, and curve hugging jeans to match. She wasn't exactly busty, but there was definitely something to look at.

Peeta gulped and took a seat on the opposite side of the room. Great, that was just great. This wouldn't be distracting or anything… He tried to remind himself of his goals and focused his attention to the teacher, Professor Cinna.

That day in lab was just going over basic uses of the lab equipment. They would eventually have lab partners, but it wasn't necessary at the moment. Professor Cinna was demonstrating how to use the Bunsen burner properly and asked the rest of the class to try their own. Peeta looked up just in time to see the boy next to "laughing girl" accidentally knock over his Bunsen burner and light her sleeve on fire.

"What the actual fuck!" She screamed, more out of anger than panic. Rather than running around and flailing, she took her jacket off of the counter and slapped her arm, trying to kill the flame by removing the oxygen. When it died down, she ran to the sink and doused the rest of it. "The girl who laughed" just became "the girl on fire."

"Well it looks like someone isn't afraid of fire." Cinna smiled as he walked over to her, "It was surprising to see someone remain that calm in a situation like that, you weren't scared were you?"

"No, I wasn't. More like pissed. That was one of my favorite shirts!" She spat at the boy who lit her on fire.

"I think we've had enough action for today. See you next week class," Cinna said, while trying to calm "the girl on fire" down.

When everyone left the hall, the boy who caused the accident apologized profusely to the girl. Peeta half expected her to slap the boy, but she surprisingly placed a hand on his shoulder and told him that it was okay and that she had overreacted.

Peeta kept walking so she wouldn't notice that he had been staring again. He decided to go to the research lab that day and get started on his work. He greeted Professor Abernathy and they started running over basic training so that Peeta could be familiarized with the lab equipment. Professor Abernathy, or Haymitch as he liked to be called, asked Peeta for a sample of blood to do some test work on.

"Do you know when the next time you'll change for this month will be?" Haymitch asked.

"I was thinking next week, but I'm not sure what to do about my roommate," Peeta explained.

"That's a good point. See how it goes the first night and if he notices anything then we'll work it out," he offered.

"Okay," Peeta agreed.

The rest of the week was very uneventful. He still hadn't talked to the girl on fire and if she ever mentioned her name in class he didn't hear it. His focus was back on school. Finnick had even texted him asking if he wanted to go for a swim. He liked Finnick, but he never learned how to swim so he politely said no. Finnick even offered to teach Peeta how to swim, but the thought of an eighteen year old getting lessons from another eighteen year old was a little ridiculous. Peeta was fine being on land, anyway.

The Wednesday Peeta had picked for his transformation came fast and he had to get up at six in order to ensure that Cato would be asleep when he left. He grabbed his girl clothes and stuffed them into his backpack, trying to be as quiet as possible. Once he was in the lab, he walked into the bathroom and willed the change. It wasn't something he could really explain. When it was by choice all Peeta had to do was think really hard about it and then he would transform. As a female, his hair was a lot longer, still blonde, his jaw was less square, and he didn't look as bulky. He actually looked like a girl, and not a guy pretending to be a girl. He looked more like his mom than he did when he was a male. This meant if people looked really hard they might ask if he was related to himself, but they wouldn't suspect that he was the same person as his female self. When he exited the bathroom Haymitch couldn't help but laugh.

"You know it could be worse," Haymitch chuckled.

"Yeah how?" Peeta asked, glaring at Haymitch.

"You could be an ugly girl!" Haymitch lost it after that comment.

"Ha, ha. Very funny Haymitch, now on a serious note, should we draw another blood sample to see if there's a difference?"

He nodded and drew a blood sample. They placed the sample into a slide and in one microscope Haymitch had already placed Peeta's, in the other microscope was "Pippa's". It was to label one as Peeta and one as Pippa, as much as Peeta hated having to have two identities. After careful observation, they switched slides. Sadly, there was no difference, but at least they discovered it had nothing to do with his blood. Haymitch suggested they do a Karyotype the following week to see what Peeta's XY chromosome looks like. Perhaps that would hold more answers.

"Thanks for everything, Haymitch," Peeta said, as he collected his things. Haymitch nodded and with that Peeta exited the lab. His teachers were aware that it was Peeta as Pippa in class today because Haymitch sent them an email, so he didn't have to worry about that awkward conversation.

During his classes he tried to maintain low profile, especially his human sexuality class with "the girl on fire." That week they were discussing sex and human evolution. As much as he tried not to, he kept glancing back at her. Lucky for him, she was deeply involved in watching the film that was on the projector. He couldn't help but let his mind wander to the gutter. At first her wondered what it would be like to kiss her, it was innocent enough. The more the movie talked about sex though, the more he thought about her. Suddenly he felt the smallest, painful tug. It was reminiscent of…no that couldn't be, he ignore the rest of his thoughts and tried to focus on the movie, from an academic standpoint, for the remainder of the class.

After Peeta was finished with calculus, he sat in the lounge part of the lobby to do some homework. He knew it would be too risky to go into his dorm room because Cato would see him and question why there's a girl in the room, and who knows Cato would probably even try to hit on Peeta. He wasn't a bad looking girl, if he said so himself. But of course, right when he sat down he finally realized Cato was in the lounge with his girlfriend, Glitter or Glimmer or something of that nature, his friend Marvel, one girl he didn't know, AND THE GIRL ON FIRE! What was she doing with Cato? He sat down at the table close to the couches and tried to make himself less noticeable as he listened in on their conversation.

"This is Johanna," Glimmer said as she pointed to the shorthaired girl. So obviously the girl on fire really didn't know Cato if she was getting introduced right now. "And this is Katniss, they share the suite with me and Clove." Katniss gave a light wave to Cato and Marvel, after her introduction.

Katniss. Katniss. _Katniss_. Peeta couldn't stop repeating her name in his head. He also realized couldn't stop staring at her, so he quickly averted his eyes.

"Where's your roommate, Cato?" Marvel asked.

"Who knows, who cares? He's a fuckin' weirdo," Cato laughed.

Peeta scoffed and rolled his eyes, rather loudly, which caused everyone to turn their head in his direction.

"Do you have something to say?" Cato asked, eyeing 'Pippa.'

Peeta pulled out his phone and looked around in all directions before saying, "Who me? Sorry, I was just reading an annoying text." Then he held up his phone for everyone to see. Wait shit, that was 'Peeta's' phone, not 'Pippa's.' Hopefully Cato didn't pay enough attention to Peeta's things.

Not questioning him further, they all turned back around and resumed their conversation. After some time passed, Peeta learned a little about everyone from what he could overhear. Katniss wasn't sure what major she would like to be, but as of right now she was an undeclared major. Johanna chose agriculture, Glimmer was a fashion design major, Marvel in Engineering, and Cato chose health and human performance with a minor in nutrition and fitness, typical.

It must've gotten pretty late because soon they were all saying their goodbyes and walking towards the door of the first floor…that meant that Katniss must live there! Peeta thought about following her to see what room was hers, but decided against it because a) that was creepy and b) he was still Pippa so he didn't want to draw attention to himself. Besides, he could see it next time he was in the hall, since everyone's names were on the door. He decided on going to the library to waste a few more hours before it was safe to enter his room, and he headed to the door of the lobby leading outside. As he did this, Marvel started to walk next to him and opened the door for him.

"Hey, I'm Marvel," He stated.

"Cool…" Peeta murmured.

"Quick question, did it hurt?" He asked, attempting to be suave.

"Excuse me?" Peeta snorted.

"Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" he repeated.

"Oh god, I think I threw up in my mouth a little," Peeta laughed, as he walked passed Marvel.

"I'll see you around sweetheart!" Marvel shouted desperately. Nope, never. It was one of the many negative sides of being Pippa. Peeta was used to men hitting on him as Pippa by now, but it still didn't make it any less awkward.

Once he was at the library, he pulled out the rest of his homework and his laptop to try and pass the time away. At about 1 am, he decided Cato was probably asleep so he made his way back to the dorm. Luckily Cato was fast asleep, when he opened the door. Peeta slipped off his female clothes, and pulled on some male pajama pants and a shirt.

The next day when he woke up, he was back to Peeta as usual. It was 8 am when he woke up, so he must've changed back into his male self about two hours ago, and of course, Cato was still asleep. It was Thursday, which usually meant chem lab, but Cinna had canceled it for some reason that didn't matter. Haymitch said they couldn't work on anything until the following week, so Peeta took it as an opportunity to do some laundry.

As he trudged into the laundry room with his heavy basket, why it was so heavy on just the second week he didn't know, he noticed Katniss sitting on a couch in the ground floor lounge. She was probably waiting on her own laundry. After he threw his clothes in the wash, he plopped down into a chair next to her and pulled out his iPod and sketchbook. He started sketching the lounge when he felt eyes on him. He turned to see Katniss staring at the picture and he pulled out one of his headphones as he saw her lips moving.

"Hey, that's really good," She said, as she stood. He made a confused look as to why she was standing, to which she responded, "Laundry." She pointed to the room and disappeared.

He barely muttered out a "thanks" before she was gone. When his own laundry was finished washing and drying, he folded his clothes and walked towards the stairs leading to the first floor. When he entered the hall, he saw Cato flying down the hallway in a hurry. As he passed Peeta he knocked into Peeta's laundry basket sending both him and his laundry flying backwards. Cato snickered as he pushed open the hall door and bolted down the stairs. The impact of Cato's push caused Peeta to fall back on a nearby door. He looked up and read the name tags "Katniss Everdeen" & "Johanna Mason". Shit, hopefully no one was inside. Wait, Katniss had just done laundry so of course she'd be inside. As if he hadn't suffered enough embarrassment, just as he was using the door to get himself up, it opened making him fall forward into the dorm and he landed with a "click" on his wrist. Before he looked up, he silently hoped it was Johanna and not Katniss, but luck just wasn't his today and he looked up to a confused Katniss. He winced, as she reached for the hand that he had landed on, but he tried not to call too much attention to it.

"Let me help. Are you alright?" She asked, picking up his laundry that had fallen.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm fine," he said nervously, as he picked up more of the clothes.

"Oh shut up, I saw you land on your hand. Let me take you to get it checked out," she implored, handing him his laundry.

"Really, I'm fine. It's no big deal," Peeta said, as he stood up and walked towards his room.

She darted in front of him and made her way down the hall to what she guessed was his door. She pointed to it, silently asking if it was his, and he nodded so she opened it for him when he finally reached her.

"Ohhh, so you're Cato's roommate," she mused, as she held open the door for him.

"Uh, yeah. He's mentioned me?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Once or twice. To be honest, he's kind of an asshole. Actually his whole group is annoying. I'm betting you know who I'm talking about," she said, lingering by the door.

"You can come in if you want…" Peeta offered.

"Good, 'cause I was going to come in anyway. I just wanted to be semi-polite," She laughed, grabbing his laundry and folding it next to him.

"You don't have to do this. You don't even know me," he said, folding his laundry as well.

"I'm Katniss Everdeen and you're Peeta Mellark," she stated.

"How did you—" he began, but she cut him off, holding up a pair of his boxer briefs with his name stitched on them.

"Cute," she smiled, waving them around.

He groaned and pulled them out of her hand, blushing.

"So you're in my chem and human sexuality classes, right?" she said as more of a statement than a question. He nodded in response, still unable to look at her. "I thought it was you who I caught staring at me."

"I wasn't staring!" he defended.

"Relax, I was kidding!" she laughed, instantly bringing a smile to Peeta's face. She slapped his wrist in a playful manner during their banter, forgetting that he had just injured it.

He winced again and rubbed his wrist slowly.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry. I honestly forgot," She said concerned, holding his hand and arm in both of her hands. "You should really get it checked out, Peeta."

"As soon as all of my laundry is folded, I promise I will," he said.

"You better," she ordered, handing him another folded shirt.

"Thanks, you know, for helping me pick up my laundry," he smiled, putting away his clothes.

"It's nothing. I should probably finish up my homework, but you need to go and get that wrist checked," she said, walking to the door.

"I will, I will," he responded, as Katniss opened the door.

"I live in 117, by the way, "she stated, pointing to the door down the hall.

"If you ever wanna get together and study or something, that'd be cool!" He blurted out.

"See you later, Mellark." She laughed, shaking her head and disappearing into her own room.

Peeta finished putting away the rest of his clothes and grabbed his keys. As much as he hated to admit it, his wrist really did hurt so he sucked up his pride, stuck to his promise, and headed towards the infirmary.

On his way to the infirmary, he saw Finnick leave the dining hall.

"Hey Finnick!" He called out.

"Hey dude, what's up? How's your first two weeks been? Sugar cookie?" he offered, putting one into his own mouth.

"No thanks. And well my asshole roommate knocked into me and my laundry today on his way out and I fell and landed on my wrist. But besides that, my week has been pretty good," he replied.

"Ahh, headed to the infirmary?"

"Yup. I did meet a cool girl though, when I fell into her door. So that was worth it," Peeta chuckled.

"Oh really? What's her name?" he asked, as they walked up the steps of the infirmary.

"Katniss, Katniss Everdeen." A smile crept up on Peeta's face as he remembered her.

"Oh I know her! She's friends with Annie and Madge Undersee, Annie's roommate. She's cool," Finnick said, as they entered the infirmary.

In the infirmary, one of the doctors checked on Peeta and he was relieved to find out it was just a sprain. They gave him a Velcro cast that was black and only went up to the midway point on his arm.

"Girls are gonna be all over you when they see you in that. They love seeing a guy that they can take care of." Finnick smirked, pointing to his cast.

Peeta laughed and said, "that's fine, but I'm not really looking for girls' attention."

"Wait, but I though Katniss—you're not… are you? If you are it's totally cool, I don't judge," Finnick rambled.

"No! No, I'm not gay." Peeta laughed. "I'm just really busy. I wouldn't have enough time for a girlfriend."

"But Katniss!" He nudged Peeta's shoulder, teasingly.

"I barely know her," Peeta explained.

"Well get to know her! She's a little stubborn at first, but she'll open up to a nice guy like you very fast," Finnick said.

"I don't know, we'll see."

Finnick sped up and turned around so that he was walking backwards and facing Peeta. He stopped then grabbed Peeta's shoulders.

"Look, there's an open frat party tomorrow night. I know it's not your thing, and I know we just became friends and all, but I'm your bro and I got your back. Come out with Annie and me. I can almost guarantee she'll bring Katniss. Just loosen up and have fun, Peet," Finnick begged.

Peeta thought about it for a moment then agreed.

"Alright, alright, but I'm not getting shitfaced," Peeta said, as Finnick raised his hand in triumph.

"Dude, you won't regret it!"

* * *

The next morning in chem, Peeta scanned the lecture hall for Katniss, but he didn't see her anyway so he took his usual seat. He figured she must have a different lecture period and if she was in his lecture, he wouldn't know since there were so many people in his class.

When he got to his human sexuality class, he saw Katniss next to her friend and an empty seat beside her. He wasn't sure if their conversation from the day before gave him a pass to sit next to her, so he just sat in his usual seat in the row before her's.

"Hey," She tapped his back and whispered into his ear. He could feel the chills creeping up his arms, but he tried to ignore them.

"Hey," he responded.

"Why aren't you sitting next to me?" she asked, her warm breath tickling his ear.

"I didn't know you wanted me to," he said, nervously.

"You said we don't know each other. So get to know me then, Mellark."

"Next time, Everdeen." Peeta said, trying to match her confidence, as the professor began speaking.

She laughed then leaned down, grabbing his shoulder and letting her hand linger for a few seconds, "By the way, I see you kept your promise. Love the cast."

Peeta turned to her and smiled, and then he reverted his focus back to the professor. The professor explained that in two weeks they would have to partner up and give a presentation about one way in which media, television, movies, and music abuse sex and sexuality to appeal audiences their age.

When they were dismissed, someone ran up behind Peeta and grabbed his arm just above his cast.

"Black suits you," the not-so-stranger said, as they held up his hand. Peeta realized it was Katniss and smiled.

"Thanks." He said, trying not to blush.

"So, I really don't wanna get killed in lab next week. Be my partner?" she asked.

"Sure, don't like being the girl on fire?" he teased.

"Oh be quiet." She said, as she walked backwards in front of him.

What's with people doing that? First Finnick, now her. It didn't really matter to him though, just something he noticed.

"So I'll see you Tuesday?" she asked.

"See you then."

She waved then turned around and walked away. He made his way over to the research lab and texted Finnick about tonight.

**Peeta:** So is she coming tonight?

**Finnick:** And who might this "she" be?

**Peeta:** Katniss!

**Finnick: **Calm down, Don Juan, Annie hasn't asked yet, but I'm sure she will.

Peeta sighed then put away his phone and greeted Haymitch. Peeta loved the research lab, mostly because he could come in any day he wanted to as long as he went for at least five hours every week.

"You know your Karyotype won't be in until next week, kid," Haymitch said.

"I know, I'm just looking for time to kill," Peeta explained.

Peeta told Haymitch about Katniss and his plans for that night. For some reason, he felt as though he could talk to Haymitch about stuff like that and Haymitch would understand. Haymitch actually thought it was pretty interesting, since he knew Katniss himself. He tried to convince Katniss to become a bio major, but she was still on the rocks about it. After a few hours of meaningless conversation, Haymitch and Peeta agreed that next Thursday would the second change of the month. Peeta was glad to have him and an advisor. He never judged Peeta and made sure that none of his teachers drew attention to Peeta or talked about his condition during class.

Just as he was about to say goodbye to Haymitch, Peeta felt a buzz in his pocked. He pulled out his phone and opened up the text.

"She's in." Those two words meant that he would be seeing Katniss Everdeen again. Tonight.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I am so sorry it took so long to post the new chapter. I just finished finals, so I should have more free time now to write. So I wasn't able to put this in the summary of the story, but there's going to be a twist later on and it'll probably be unexpected. I won't say what it is, but I'm just trying to lessen the shock. I don't want anyone to think I just came up with the twist randomly to make it more dramatic. The impending twist was always intended to be there even before this story was solidly written.


	3. Chapter 3

Nighttime came faster than Peeta had expected, and with Katniss officially joining them, Peeta knew there was no going back. He wasn't sure what outfit was frat party appropriate, since this was his first actual party, so he settled on a blue polo shirt and dark wash jeans. He slipped into his Chuck Taylor's and attempted to fix his messy hair, but the blonde waves just had a mind of their own that night.

He met up with Finnick in the lobby of Hall Four as they waited for Annie to come down. After about ten minutes, Annie joined them in the lobby with the girl who Peeta knew sat next to Katniss in Human Sexuality.

"Peeta, nice to have you officially meet Annie, my girl," Finnick beamed.

"Nice to finally meet you Peeta, it's good to know Finn will finally have another guy to hang around. I'm sure he's tired of me and my girlfriends," Annie laughed, as she shook Peeta's hand.

"Hey, you're the guy Katniss was talking to in sex class," the other girl said, pointing at Peeta in recognition. "I'm Madge by the way."

"Haha, yeah that would be me," Peeta smiled and shook Madge's hand.

"So Katniss says she and Gale are on their way," Annie said, holding up her phone.

"Why don't we just walk towards them and meet them halfway?" Madge suggested.

They all exited the lobby to meet up with Katniss and Gale. Then it finally hit Peeta. Katniss wasn't alone. She was bringing someone named Gale. Surely it couldn't be Gale his Resident Advisor….

As if on cue, Katniss came walking around the corner, with none other than Gale Hawthorne. The girls on his floor had their own RA, but still. Was Gale even allowed to hang out with her? The smile was instantly wiped from Peeta's face when he noticed that Gale had his arm slung around her shoulder.

"Hey guys, sorry that it took us so long. Catnip and I would've been here earlier, but she forgot her phone," Gale said nonchalantly.

Ugh, Catnip? Seriously? They had pet names for each other? This isn't what Peeta had signed up for.

"Hey clumsy," Katniss said, looking Peeta's way. He realized she was talking to him and he tried to fight back his smile.

"Hey," he responded, losing the battle and returning her smile.

"To the frat?" Madge asked.

"To MY frat," Gale corrected her. "Finnick, you should consider rushing," he said completely ignoring Peeta.

"I don't know, man. We'll see," Finnick said, as he linked his fingers with Annie.

Peeta tried to distance himself from Madge, so they wouldn't get paired up. He chose to walk on the other side of Finnick, but that only increased the distance between him and Katniss. When they arrived at the frat house, Gale started talking to one of the guys out front explaining that they were friends of his, so they could get in for free. Peeta was half worried that Gale wouldn't include him in that friend group, but luckily Gale didn't say anything about him.

As soon as they were inside, Peeta started downing shots. He wasn't intending on drinking, but the sight of Gale and Katniss hanging around each other was something that quickly changed Peeta's mind. An hour or so went by, and Peeta could feel the alcohol making its way through his blood. He was definitely drunk. Every now and then, he caught a glimpse of Katniss and Gale and that only boosted his drinking. How could a girl he just met affect him so much? Why was he letting this happen?

"Whoa, buddy, slow down." Finnick said, patting Peeta's back as he took two more shots.

"Sorry, I got eager a little. I'm good though, I am so good," Peeta apologized, with an obvious slur in his words.

"Relax. Here just stick to beer," Finnick said, handing him an unopened bottle. "I haven't seen you with Katniss at all bro, what's the deal?"

"She's with Gale, pfft…" Peeta scoffed and opened up the bottle, taking a swig.

"Well it looks like she's alone now, go talk to her!" Finnick encouraged.

Peeta walked to the kitchen and spotted Katniss by the counter. He strutted over to her, feeling confident from the alcohol.

"Hey," she said smiling, as he stood next to her leaning against the counter.

"Hey," he returned, smiling stupidly with a nod of the head.

"You look like you don't need anymore to drink," she said, taking away his bottle.

"No, no. I had this many and I still got room for more," He said, holding up his fingers trying to count.

She laughed and took a sip of his beer. "I can taste vodka on here." She puckered her lips at the taste.

"I bet it's stronger on my lips, if you wanna find out," he said. What was wrong with him? He'd never say that soberly. Fuck it. He was gonna be 'fun Peeta' for once.

She raised an eyebrow at him and took another sip. A piece of her hair fell in front of her face and Peeta pushed it behind her ear.

"Your hair looks really pretty down,' he said. "You should wear it like that more often."

"Thanks," she smiled and laughed, looking down at her feet.

He licked his lips and tasted the faint vodka flavor that still remained. Peeta moved closer to her and felt the butterflies in his stomach increase. Just as he was about to close the distance between them, he realized those weren't butterflies. He moved away from her and tried not to gag.

"Peeta, what's wrong?" She asked, looking at him concerned.

"Too much to drink. I think I'm gonna be sick!" He barely managed to say before he gagged again.

Katniss grabbed his hand and pushed everyone out of the way, leading him to the bathroom. She opened the door and placed Peeta in front of the toilet.

"You can go if you don't wanna watch," he said, leaning over the toilet.

"No, I'm staying," she said as she got down on the floor with him and started rubbing his back.

He emptied the contents of his stomach and leaned to the side against the wall when he was finished.

"You taking care of me seems to be a trend," he said as he smiled.

She scrunched up her nose and wiped of the sides of his mouth with some toilet paper.

"Sorry, you just had a little…" she said, pointing to the corner of her mouth.

"If I get you as a nurse every time I'm hurt, maybe I should get hurt more often."

She smiled and pushed his hair away from his eyes. "How about you try not to get into any trouble and we be friends the normal way."

"That works," he laughed.

She stood up and washed her hands, then held out a hand for him.

"Let's get you back to hall 12, okay?"

They walked back out to the party, still holding hands. Gale noticed them heading towards the door and walked in front of them. Peeta clenched his jaw in jealousy and tried to keep from making any rude remarks while under the influence.

"Hey Gale, the party is fun, but I think Peeta and I are gonna head out," she said, squeezing Peeta's hand reassuringly.

"Aww, but Catnip! We have to play some good ole beer pong!" he whined, making a pouting face.

"I'm sure you can find someone just as willing, probably even more than I am, to play beer pong with you," she answered. "Besides," she patted Peeta's stomach, "Peeta isn't feeling too well."

"Well someone else can take care of him, Katniss. Peeta isn't a party pooper, right?" he asked rhetorically.

"Katniss, it's fine. I can get someone else to walk me back," Peeta said, trying to let go of her hand.

"Gale stop, I want to go too. I'm tired. Seriously, just leave Peeta alone. He didn't do anything," she said, strengthening her grip on his hand.

"Okay!" Gale said, defeated.

They continued walking to the front door when Peeta spotted Finnick.

"Hey, Katniss and I are heading back. I'm not feeling too well," Peeta said, letting go of Katniss's hand to shake Finnick's.

"Feel better, Peet. Hope you had fun! Oh and Katniss, take care of him." He winked and smiled in Katniss's direction.

"Will do, Finn," she responded. They finished saying their goodbyes and walked out the front door.

As they walked outside, Peeta started drifting diagonally, so Katniss ran to him and grabbed his hand once again. He built up the courage to link their fingers and she smiled.

"Our hall is that way, Peeta," she said, using her free hand to point in the direction of their hall.

"Ohh, right," he said, shaking his head. They walked towards the road leading to their hall when Katniss noticed a bench and sat them down.

"Before we go to the hall, how about I go and get you some water while you sober up? It's about a fifteen minute walk and I don't think you're sober enough for it just yet," she said.

"Okay, sounds good," he said, slurring his words. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

"I'm gonna get water from the vending machine over there. Wait here, okay? Don't move!" She commanded, walking backwards to keep her eye on Peeta.

"I'm fine," he said, waving her away.

He closed his eyes and sat silently while she walked to the vending machine. A few minutes passed when he felt something cold press against his face. Peeta jumped up and swatted his arms around, opening his eyes to see a laughing Katniss with a water bottle in her hand. She opened the bottle and handed it to him, sitting back down with him.

"Drink up!" She laughed.

He took a few sips and handed it back to her. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it. Friends help each other," she said, smiling.

He returned the smile and placed a hand on her knee. "I'm sure one day I'll return the favor," he said.

"We'll see…" she laughed. "I only get drunk around certain people."

"Oh really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe you'll find out, Mellark," she said, putting her hand on his knee, mirroring what he had just done.

He smiled and opened his mouth to say something, only to gag again.

"We should probably start walking back to the hall again, before you puke," she said, offering him a hand. She linked their fingers and they continued their walk back to the hall.

"Are you always this nice to clumsy, sick, people you just met?" he asked, smiling.

"I'll be honest, Mellark. I'm kind of a bitch to most people, but I can't really be mean to a clumsy guy like you." She laughed.

"Am I that pathetic?" he teased.

"A little," she responded, nudging him with her arm.

"Really though, I don't have a lot of luck making friends, but there's something about you, Katniss," he said seriously.

"Well how about we hang out tomorrow? You and me, soberly." She kicked a beer bottle that was on the ground and jumped when it shattered as it hit a garbage can.

Peeta laughed and nodded his head. "Yeah, I'd like that."

They walked in silence the rest of the way, but it was a nice, comfortable silence. When they arrived at their hall, Katniss scanned the key card to let them in and led Peeta into the stairwell. Peeta was still a little drunk, so Katniss wrapped her arm around his hip, to help steady him, and walked him up the stairs. She opened the door to their floor and walked him in.

"So see you tomorrow?" She asked, as they reached his door.

"Yeah, just knock whenever. I'm right here," Peeta said, pointing behind him. He smiled and started to open the door with his back still facing the door. Katniss smiled in return and walked away from him waving.

"Bye, Peeta," she said, walking backwards down the hall.

"Bye, Katniss," he said, fully opening his door and then walking in.

He shut the door and smiled, but once he was alone he noticed that he reeked of alcohol and vomit. He grabbed his towel and shower bag and walked in the direction of the bathrooms. Twisting the handle in the shower, he turned the water to 'hot' and the shower slowly started filling with steam.

He was half-finished with his shower when he heard someone step into the shower next to him. Peeta was just about to lather on some soap when he heard music come from the shower next to him. He recognized the synthesized beat of the song "Clarity", a song he frequently heard on Pandora's dubstep station. He fought the urge to sing along with the song, since guys tend to be quiet during night showers. Right before the song reached the chorus, a woman's voice sang out from the shower next to him.

"_Cause you are the piece of me, I wish I didn't need. Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why. If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy? If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity."_ The voice sang. It was probably the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. She was even better than the original artist, Peeta though. That's when he realized it was a girl singing, which must mean...

Fuck! He must've walked into the girls' bathroom instead of the guys'. Damn that alcohol. He knew it was his own fault and the more he listened, the more he recognized the girl's voice. Katniss. Katniss FUCKING Everdeen was singing in the shower next to him. Katniss was showering next to him. Katniss was singing naked in the shower next to him! At that thought, Peeta dropped his liquid soap bottle on the floor and cursed. He cursed again once he realized he cursed out loud. Hopefully she didn't hear.

"I hate to be that girl, but who's in here?" Katniss asked. Fuck, she had heard him.

He turned off the water and waited a moment before opening the door. Just as he pushed open the lock, Katniss turned off her own water. He tried to quietly exit, but she opened her door and jumped out.

"I knew you were a—Peeta?" She asked, holding her towel up.

"I swear I thought this was the guys! I was drunk! Heck I still am," he explained, rubbing his head.

"So you accidently used the girls' room? Damn Mellark, get your shit together," she teased.

"Can we just forget about this?" he asked, walking towards the door. Just as he was about to exit, his towel got caught on a low hanging towel hook and fell off his body. Peeta stood there, petrified in embarrassment. He felt his cheeks grow hot, from blushing.

"I think we've reached a new level of friendship," Katniss laughed and handed him his towel.

"I, um…" he was at a loss of words.

"Not too bad either, Mellark," she said, and with that she exited the bathroom, flipping her wet her behind her so that it tickled his nose as she exited.

He hoped Katniss wouldn't bring this up the following day when they hung out. He was embarrassed enough. The one of the only good things about being drunk that night was how fast he was able to fall asleep.

* * *

He woke up the next morning to a loud banging on the door and thrumming in his head. The knocking probably wasn't as loud as it seemed, but he was seriously hung over. He looked down from his bed, since it was lofted, to see if Cato was there, but for once Cato had woken up before him. This meant that Peeta would have to get down and open the door himself. Squinting from the light that shone through the crack in the door, he opened it to a smiling Katniss.

"You look like shit," she said, trying to hold back her laughter.

"Hello, nice to see you too," Peeta joked.

"Well I was going to ask if you were ready to hang out, but I clearly have my answer," she said, inviting herself inside. He closed the door behind her and leaned against his bed. She plopped down on his desk chair and made herself comfortable.

"I didn't expect you here so early," he said, rubbing his eyes.

"Early? It's 11 am, Mellark," she smirked.

"Oh god. Fuck, I overslept," he said, with a face palm.

"Uh, yeah you did," Katniss said, laughing and playing with her braid. She pointed to his boxer briefs and said, "I folded those."

"Oh shit, I completely forgot to put on pajamas!" He exclaimed, covering himself with his hands.

"Peeta relax, you were drunk. Besides, I already saw everything there is to see last night," she teased, twirling from side to side in the rolling chair. He blushed and pulled on some sweatpants he took out from the dresser next to him.

"Yeah, let's not discuss that. So, what are we doing Everdeen?" he asked, curiously.

"There's a lazy river about an hour from here. You can go tubing on it for like two hours. I'd say that's a great way to get to know each other. Two hours stuck on a river. What do you say?" she asked, looking at the pictures on his desk. He didn't know if he should, considering he couldn't swim, but he wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to hang out with Katniss.

"Yeah, that works. How are we getting there?"

"I was hoping you'd have a car," she admitted.

"You're in luck, but what makes you so sure I'd want to spend my gas on you," he teased, getting more comfortable with her.

"Because you owe me after last night, vodka lips." She laughed at his comment from the night before, causing him to blush even more.

"Oh, sorry about that too, and anything else I may have said. I swear I'm never like that," he defended.

"Oh I believe you, but I'm not complaining. It wasn't so bad, when you weren't puking," she said, smiling at him.

"I'm not sure what was worse, the party or after. I think I embarrassed myself enough for a life time."

"Like I said, I'm not complaining. It happens, and it'll happen again. It's college. Relax. Just get dressed and meet me outside." Katniss said, as she got up to leave.

The drive to the river went by much fast than he had wanted. As happy as he was to be with Katniss, Peeta really wasn't looking forward to actually going in the river. They couldn't decide between the two person inflatable boat or just singular tubes, but Katniss said they could always try the boat another day so they settled on individual tubes. When they reached the nature park that had the natural lazy river, Peeta untied the tubes from the roof of his shiny, black Camaro.

"I don't understand why you need such a nice car at eighteen. I hate to sound rude, but come on! It's such an expensive car! I have an old junker back home. It's lame, but it get's me from point A to point B, so I'm really not complaining," Katniss said.

She was unimpressed with the car the minute she saw it, but it's not like Peeta was trying to be showy. He couldn't help the fact that his family was wealthy. His father had bought it for him as a graduation present, since Peeta graduated top of his class and with a free ride to college. He had earned the car; it didn't just appear to him for being rich. When he explained this to Katniss, she rolled her eyes, but apologized and congratulated him for being valedictorian in high school.

"I'm sorry, it just really bothers me when I see rich people spend money just because they can. You did earn it, so I take it back. But you have to understand; I've had to support my family ever since my dad died, so I really take my spending seriously. I had to work my ass off to come here for free and I guess I forget sometimes that not everyone with money is like that. I'm sorry, Peeta," she said genuinely.

"Don't worry about it, Katniss. I don't take anything I don't earn. I've been working in the main bakery of my family's chain for years, so I know all about working hard. You learn something new everyday," he returned.

"You continue to surprise me, Peeta Mellark. Don't stop," she laughed.

"Oh you don't know the meaning of surprises," he mumbled.

"Did you say something?" she asked, picking up her own tube.

"Nope, must've been the wind," he covered. She didn't press further, so they walked towards the river. It must've been about a mile walk, but it seemed further. Peeta looked at the water and hesitated. Katniss was next to him, tying her flip-flops to the tube. She put her tube in the water and jumped into it, clothes and everything.

"Is it cold?" he asked, trying to delay before it was his turn to get in.

"Yeah, a little. You'll get used to it though," she called out to him as the river slowly carried her. "Hurry up, before I get too far!"

"Well here goes nothing," he said under his breath as he jumped on his own tube in the water. Katniss was right; the water was a little chilly. Luckily, he wore his swim trunks and a water shirt, so it wasn't too bad. Katniss on the other hand looked like she'd be a little colder. All she had on was short spandex shorts and a v-neck shirt. He was pretty sure that was the only clothes she brought, so he was a little confused as to why she wore them in the water. He wasn't complaining though, she looked damn good in them.

"Hurry up, slow poke!" she yelled teasingly.

"You try paddling with one good hand," he responded, holding up his waterproof cast covered hand.

"If you're trying to get me to feel bad for you, it's working," she stated. "So come on, Mellark, tell me your life story."

"My what?" he asked, confused. Surely she didn't know about Pippa.

"Your life story, tell me a little about you that I don't already know." There was no way she was asking about Pippa.

"I don't know. Not much to say. I was top of my class in school, I've got two brothers, Rye and Bing, and I'm studying bio chem. What else do you wanna know?" he asked, floating by her.

"Hmm, what's your guilty pleasure?" she inquired, laying back and resting on the headrest of the tube.

"You really wanna know?" he mirrored her actions.

"Yeah I really do. I'll tell you mine, but you have to go first." She closed her eyes.

"Okay, but don't laugh."

"I won't, I swear. And don't say baking, that doesn't count. I already know you do that," she said sternly.

"I wasn't," he defended, "truth be told, I kinda like Taylor Swift."

"Shut the fuck up!" She exclaimed, disrupting the calm in the water.

"Hey you said you wouldn't laugh," he blushed.

"I'm only laughing because that's what I was going to say," she blushed in return.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we never speak of this again though. Deal?"

"Fine by me," he agreed. "Your turn. Tell me about yourself."

"Well I have a sister named Prim, my dad died when I was eleven, but it's okay. You don't have to feel bad. We managed just fine," She said. He didn't want to push the subject further so he just nodded. He then realized the girl he met when he moved in was Katniss's younger sister.

"Wait, I think I met your sister. Is she blonde with blue eyes?" he asked, pushing off her raft a little with his hand.

"Yeah, how did you meet her?" Katniss questioned.

"She was in the hall when I moved in and I helped her get in the building," Peeta explained, "She loves to talk."

"Well that's Prim for you. She's definitely got a mouth. The first day I was here she called and kept me on the phone for about three hours. She just had so much to say and I had just seen her the day before," she said, smiling at the story she was telling.

"That's cute," he returned the smile. Just then he felt something graze his backside, which was in the water because of the tube. "Katniss was that you?"

"What are you talking about? I'm over here," She said, a few feet away from him and definitely out of reach.

He looked into the water and saw several large, grey shapes.

"What are those?" he asked, trying not to show his nervousness.

"Holy shit! Peeta those are manatees!" Katniss squealed in excitement, leaning over the tube to see them. She ran her hand over one's back as it swam by.

"Don't touch it!" Peeta shouted.

"Why not? It's not gonna hurt me," she whined. "Look they're gone. See? No more. Got a little scared there, didn't you Mellark?"

"I wasn't scared, I was just being safe," He clarified.

"Whatever you say," she teased, splashing him. He splashed her back and soon they were both soaked from splashing each other back and forth.

"Okay, okay, I'm wet enough for one day," she said with a wink. She was extra flirtatious today, which made him wonder about Gale. Now was as good a time as any to ask her about him, so he decided he would.

"So quick question," he said.

"Yeah?"

"What are you and Gale exactly?" he asked timidly.

She laughed a little then explained, "Well I guess you could say we're friends with benefits."

"Oh," he said, a little hurt.

"I mean we were, sort of. Well over the summer we'd hook up from time to time, but we haven't recently," she clarified.

"Oh," he said in a hopeful tone.

"Did you forget formal language?" she teased.

"Sorry, I was just processing," he said, running a hand through his hair.

"So what about you?" she said, shifting on the tube so that she was lying on her stomach.

"No, I've never really been in any sort of relationship," he said, looking away.

"That's okay, I've really only been in one serious relationship," she admitted, trying to get him to look her way.

"Seriously?" He asked in disbelief, while moving onto his own stomach.

"Yup, come here." She smiled while making a motion with her finger for him to get closer. She pulled his tube so that their faces were inches away and she smiled as the distance slowly closed between them. Just when it looked like they were about to kiss, at the last minute she flipped over his tube causing him to fall off. She had no idea he couldn't swim.

He tried not to panic under the water and tried to propel himself upward, but he couldn't really use his bad arm. Katniss sensed something was wrong when he didn't come up immediately afterwards. She swam down after Peeta and pulled him out and onto one of the tubes.

"Holy shit, Peeta! Why didn't you just swim? You almost gave me a fucking heart attack!" She shouted, swimming to her own tube.

"I don't know," he said, not wanting to admit his inability to swim.

"Some smart guy you are," she said in annoyance, pulling herself back on the tube.

"I didn't swim because can't swim, dammit!" he snapped.

"Wait, what? Are you serious?" Katniss asked, her expression softening.

"Yeah, no one cared enough to teach me," he confessed.

"Peeta…Why didn't you tell me? I could've picked something else for us to do," she said with a softer voice, hopping back out of her tube to swim to him.

"You sounded like you really wanted to do this and I figured it wouldn't be too much of a problem if we had tubes," he justified.

"I'm sorry. I wouldn't have done that if I had known," Katniss apologized, rubbing his good arm.

"I know, and I'm sorry for not telling you either," he replied.

"Well since we're here, let me teach you. I care enough," she pleaded.

"Okay," he agreed.

Katniss pushed the tubes onto the land on the side to keep them from floating away. She then pulled Peeta to a dead part in the river so that the current wouldn't pull them away from the tubes.

"Look it's shallow enough to where you can put your feet down if absolutely necessary," she explained.

"So what do I do then?" he asked.

"Well I don't expect you to learn in a day, but just try. We can float, you might not think so, but we can. You just need to trust yourself and the water. Use your feet to keep yourself afloat. Just kick back and forth and you just kinda do this with your hands," Katniss tried to explain. She waved her hands in the water slowly beside her to keep herself up.

"Like this?" he asked, struggling a little. Peeta had to touch the ground with his toes in order to keep from sinking.

"Yeah, sort of. Now to move you, use your hands and arms to move as well as your feet." She demonstrated by swimming to the tubes and then to him again. The most he could do was doggie paddle before he swallowed too much water.

"I'm kind of doing it," he said, laughing.

"I think that's good enough for one day, little mermaid," she joked.

She brought back their tubes and they continued going down the lazy river. By the end of the two-hour trip, Peeta felt like he really got to know Katniss. She was obviously comfortable with him and he was becoming more and more comfortable around her.

After they returned the tubes and reached the car, Peeta pulled off his wet shirt and wrung the water out of it. Katniss did the same with both her spandex and V-neck, and Peeta couldn't help but look at her in her bikini. He cleared his throat then excused himself, disappearing to the bathroom to change into his extra shorts. When he returned to the car, he saw her still standing in her bikini.

"Fuck! I forgot to bring extra clothes," she cursed. Peeta looked down at his bag and realized he had a long sleeve shirt, a hoodie, and a t-shirt. He was planning on wearing the long sleeve, but held up all three items to Katniss.

"Pick one," he offered.

"Hmmm, this!" she laughed, as she grabbed both the hoodie and the long sleeve shirt. Peeta rolled his eyes and pulled on the t-shirt, while she put on the other shirt and hoodie. They both got back into the car and once they were inside, Katniss slid her arms into the shirt.

"Are you still cold?" Peeta asked, wondering what she was doing. He started the car and got on the road back to campus.

"Nope, just getting comfortable," she responded.

"What do you mean?" he questioned, confused. He quirked his eyebrows and she slid her hands back out dropping her bikini top on the car floor in front of her.

"Much better," she sighed, relaxing back into the seat and putting her feet up on the dashboard. Peeta tried to keep his eyes on the road, but after seeing Katniss do that, it became increasingly difficult.

"Oh," he responded, returning his eyes back to the road.

"Hope you don't mind, I did say we reached a new level of friendship yesterday and, I mean, I did almost drown you," she joked.

"Yeah, that is true," he chuckled. However, in his mind he was frowning. If she was comfortable enough to do that, surely this must be her way of friend-zoning him. Although he knew what it was like to be a girl, it gave him absolutely no insight on them.

"So I know I said I hated this car earlier, but it's a sports car right?" Katniss asked, pulling out her wet braid.

"Yeah," Peeta responded, glancing over at her.

"So how fast can it go?" She asked, her voice showing a hint of delight, as she played with her hair.

"Um pretty fast I guess, why?" he raised his brows.

"Well no one's on this road and if there was another car coming we'd see it, so how about we test this thing's power?" she asked, her grey eyes glowing with excitement.

"I don't know, Katniss. I really don't want to get ticketed," Peeta replied.

"Please Peeta? I'll take the blame if we get pulled over, which we won't! It'll be so much fun," She begged, pulling on his arm.

"Sure, why not," he finally agreed.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek, still gripping his arm. Peeta slowly applied pressure on the gas pedal, the car gradually picking up speed. The hum of the engine grew louder as the speedometer indicated they were well above 100 mph. Peeta barely moved the steering wheel, but even the slightest movement at their speed caused the car to jerk just a little. Katniss tightened her grip and Peeta started to decrease their speed.

"Where you scared, Katniss?" Peeta mocked, as she released her grip.

"What? Fuck, no. That didn't scare me. I was just giving your driving arm a light massage," she tried to reason.

"Yeah. Okay," he laughed and she slapped his arm, while the car slowed down to a normal speed.

"I had a lot of fun today, Peeta," she said, looking out the window.

"Me too, we should hang out more often," he said.

Katniss mumbled an agreement and leaned her head against the window. The hum of the car lulled her into a sleep. When they arrived at the dorm's parking garage, Peeta lightly tapped Katniss's shoulder, but she only stirred, not waking up.

"Katniss we're here," he said, pushing her shoulder a little. She was definitely a heavy sleeper. Peeta didn't know what else to do, so he unbuckled her and right as he was about to pick her up, she jumped in her seat and immediately opened her eyes.

"Oh my god, Peeta! You scared the shit out of me!" She exclaimed.

"Well you weren't waking up, so I was gonna try and carry you," he explained.

"That's sweet, Mellark." She smiled and got out of the car, grabbing her swimsuit top off the floor of his car. He returned the smile and blushed a little, trying to hide it from Katniss.

They walked back to their dorm and made there way to the first floor. He knew they were just friends so when they reached her room he waved a goodbye to her, but she stopped him and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"So I'll see you in class Monday?" she asked, slowly turning the knob of her door.

"Mhmm," he responded.

"And you'll sit next to me this time?" She questioned, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, I promise," he smiled.

"Good. Also, don't expect this back any time soon," she said, pulling on the sweatshirt. "I'm claiming it as our first friend outfit exchange."

"So can I borrow your shorts sometime?" he half-joked, little did she know he actually needed some new girl clothing for his time as Pippa.

"You're funny, Mellark," she laughed and closed the door.

He knew this friendship with Katniss would definitely be interesting and he began to wonder if in the future he might have to tell her about Pippa, but then he shook the idea from his head and walked back to his own room. She'd never think of him the same if she knew the truth. He was destined to be forever alone, or at least that's what he told himself.


	4. Chapter 4

After he said bye to Katniss, Peeta climbed up his bunked bed and dropped on the mattress. He was exhausted from their trip to the river. When he woke up at around 8 pm. he still didn't feel like doing much. Even though it was a Saturday night, he figured he'd just shower, eat, and watch some TV in the lounge. He contemplated texting Finnick to see if he wanted to hang out, but he guessed that Finnick was probably with Annie or going to a party or something. Instead, Peeta just grabbed his shower things and made his way to the men's bathroom. He double-checked to make sure it was, in fact, the men's room, not wanting a repeat of Friday night. When he was finished showering, he stood in front of the mirror and examined the stubble across his jaw. Just as he decided against shaving, Gale emerged from the shower and walked up to the sink next to Peeta.

"Bet you never thought you'd spot your RA at party?" Gale asked, looking at Peeta in the mirror.

"Can't say that I did," he answered. Peeta knew he really wasn't supposed to hang out with RAs where alcohol was involved, but then again RAs also shouldn't be friends-with-benefits with people on their floor.

"Mind if we don't tell anyone about that? It could get me in trouble," he said, combing his hair.

"Yeah, I understand. Thanks for getting me into the party anyway," Peeta said, looking down at the sink. In the back of his mind he knew Gale only got him in the party because he was with the group. Maybe he could've been friends with Gale, had the circumstances been different, but given that Gale and Katniss had some sort of history, their friendship was unlikely.

"No problem. So you and catnip—sorry, habit—Katniss are friends?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. What did it matter to him anyway?

"Yeah, she's nice," he said, shrugging his shoulders. He pulled out his Velcro cast from his shower bag and slipped it on his hand, smiling at the memory of how he met Katniss.

"Well, be careful. She's not one for relationships, so I wouldn't try too hard with her. She's already got what she needs," Gale said, walking over to the door of the bathroom. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"We're just friends but thanks," Peeta answered, not wanting to look at Gale. When Gale left, Peeta breathed a sigh of relief. Gale was very much intimidating. Older, taller, more experienced, and in a frat, how was Peeta supposed to compete? What did it matter though? He already decided he wasn't going to focus on relationships, but Katniss… He couldn't not try and imagine something with her. He finally decided that whatever happens, happens and that he wouldn't force anything. Besides, he was fine with just being friends with her; if she wanted something more then she could bring it up.

Peeta picked up his shower things and gripped his towel as he pushed open the bathroom door. He walked down the hall and of course, as if it were on purpose, Katniss was using the water fountain. He tried to walk past her, acting like he didn't notice her when she slapped his butt.

"Hey!" she laughed. "Ignoring me?"

"No, of course not. I just didn't know it was you," he responded. His cheeks turned bright red from her action, but he tried to brush it off.

"Yeah, okay," she said sarcastically, following him down the hall.

"I'm beginning to think you have thing for seeing me in a towel," he joked, but really it was almost funny how she had seen him twice in the same weekend in just a towel.

"Oh don't flatter yourself, you were the one in the girl's room so that was your fault," she quirked an eyebrow. When they reached his dorm she opened his door and walked in. "So what are you doing tonight?"

"Hey Peeta, mind if I come in? Sure Katniss, go right ahead," he mocked, closing the door behind him. Katniss sat in his chair again, waiting for his answer. "Well I was just gonna eat and watch a movie, I'm kinda tired from earlier."

"Same, what are we eating?" She asked, watching as he pulled out what appeared to be his underwear from the top drawer.

"Well I was going to go to the dining hall, I don't know about you," he shrugged.

"Oh," she said, looking downward. Peeta realized that there was a noticeable change in her mood. He was only joking, he didn't mean to hurt her feelings.

"I was kidding, I didn't think you'd want to hang out with me after we spent all day with each other," he explained.

"No it's fine, go eat. Just text me, or knock on my door when you're back," she said, moving to get up.

"Well one, I don't have your number and two, I was joking, please forgive me and come eat with me," he pleaded. He handed her his phone and watched as her fingers swiped across the screen, putting in her number. She then tossed his phone to him and he caught it, putting it on his nightstand.

"I know, it's just, I don't have a meal plan," she admitted with a sigh. "Like I said, I'm here on a scholarship and I don't have the money to pay for that. I just do my own cooking. It might not be the best, but it's cheap and works. Don't feel sorry for me though, I've had to deal with this my whole life and I have a pretty good handle on it. My mom wasn't exactly around when my dad died so I kind of took charge," She paused, visibly upset by what she had just said, and then she continued "shit, I really don't need to be bothering you with these things." Katniss couldn't bring herself to look at him, and it wasn't because he was only in a towel. She actually felt like she was more vulnerable than Peeta was at the moment. She wasn't one to open up about her life back home, but she just felt very much at ease with him and it just came out.

"No, I understand. It's okay if you wanna talk. I'm here to listen. I won't judge you. Ever. I'm not that kind of guy," he said, putting a hand on her back. "We can still go to the dining hall, I'll just swipe my card twice. In fact, you can use my card whenever you want. I have unlimited swipes."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I don't need your charity," she said, shrugging away from his hand. She hated when people did things for her out of pity, that's not what she was looking for by opening up to Peeta. In fact, it took all of her self-control to not leave his room at that moment. She just couldn't stand when people tried to give her handouts.

"Katniss, I didn't mean anything by it. I was just trying to be friendly. Just come with me. Please," he said with a hint of hurt in his voice. He was genuinely trying to help. He just wanted his friend to have dinner with him, that's all. She looked at him conflicted, but her scowl finally softened.

"Fine, but only because you're practically groveling. Pathetic much?" she quipped. And just like that, the guard she had accidently let down was back up.

"Funny, but I'll take. Now would you mind closing your eyes? I still have to get dressed," he said, gesturing to his towel. She put her hands over her eyes, barely making an effort to cover them and he slipped on his boxer-briefs.

"If you insist," she mumbled. "Oh! I have a fun idea! Let's go to the dining hall in pajamas, it'll be fun and comfy."

"People will think that we're either bums, weird, or that we just had sex," he said, not realizing the last part until he actually said it.

"Let them think what they want, besides is that necessarily a bad thing?" she asked. He knew behind her covered eyes that her eyebrows were raised suggestively. She dropped her hands to her lap and looked up at him.

"Hey, I still haven't put on my pants!" he cried, pulling on his plaid pajama pants.

"Look now there on," she laughed. She found his innocence and modesty very amusing, which was why she had no problem teasing him about it.

"I'll wait for you outside while you go put on your own PJs if you want," he offered.

"I'm fine with one of yours," she said. She opened up his bottom drawer and started sifting through his clothes. Something caught her attention because she gasped and held that item up. Peeta breathed in sharply, thinking Pippa's clothes might be there, but then he remembered he hid those in his closet, so he relaxed. "I'm wearing these! They feel so comfortable." She held up a pair of sweatpants and stood up.

Peeta just shook his head and laughed. She had no idea the effect she could have. She unbuttoned her jean shorts and Peeta gasped. "Hey, you could've warned me!"

"Why, I don't care if you see me," she kicked off her shorts and pulled on his pants. "I was right, these are comfortable. By the way Peeta, you should really relax. You're cute when you're stressed and all, but you're much cuter when you're smiling." With that, she held his face in one hand, and then she slowly slid her hand down his neck, pulling away once she reached his collarbone.

"I, um, okay," he said nervously, as he pulled on his shirt.

"Let's go then," she said, opening the door and gesturing for him to follow her out. As they were walking through the hallway, she disappeared into her room and reappeared wearing his hoodie he had given her earlier.

When they arrived at the dining hall, they decided to pick up "to-go" boxes so that they could eat back in the lounge. Peeta took an extra to-go box just so he could fill it with the cookies from the dining hall. They weren't as good as his cookies, but they were still delicious. Katniss just laughed at him and shook her head. As they walked back to the hall, they saw this scared looking beagle puppy cowering under a tree.

"Don't go near it!" Katniss yelled. "You don't know what that thing has."

"You sure love animals," Peeta said sarcastically. "Come here little guy, I won't hurt you." He put down his boxes on the ground next to him and held out his hand for the puppy to sniff. As much as Katniss disliked animals, she had a sort of soft spot for dogs and even softer spot for Peeta. She couldn't help but smile at his attempts to coax the dog away from the tree. She could've sworn Peeta was a dog whisperer or something, perhaps it was just his ability to communicate, but the dog came to him almost immediately.

"I think he likes you," Katniss said, as Peeta picked the dog up. She walked over to him and gave the puppy a light pat.

"We should find the owner, I'm sure they're worried," Peeta suggested.

"Why? It's not our problem. Just bring him to campus police," she responded.

"Katniss, he has a collar. All we have to do is call. Besides, it's the right thing to do," Peeta said, pulling out his cell phone. Peeta was good. There was no other way to explain, he was just a good person. She admired him for that.

They were finally able to contact the owner, and luckily she was nearby. When Peeta gave her the puppy back, she instantly fawned over him and offered to take him out to dinner for rescuing her dog. Katniss grew jealous and slipped her hands around his waist with their boxes of food and told him that it was going to get cold if they didn't hurry back. Peeta was clueless when it came to his attractiveness; coupled with his kindness he was every girl's dream.

Once they were back in their own hall, they raced to see who could make it into the lounge first. Peeta was fast, but Katniss was faster. They sat on the couch next to each other, pulling up the coffee table to rest their feet on.

"Damn Peeta, not only are you slow, but you're loud too," she teased, opening up her to-go box and putting it on her lap.

"I can't help it!" he defended, opening up his own box.

"Be thankful that you're cute," she joked, taking a bite of her pizza. He smiled at her and took a bite of his own slice of pizza. "Thanks, you know, for getting me this. You didn't have to. And I'm really sorry for bitching about it too. I just don't want people to be nice to me and help me for the wrong reasons."

"Katniss it's fine. Besides, I wanted to pay because you're my friend. Friends can buy each other stuff," he explained, nudging her side with his elbow.

"Friends also give friends cookies," she said, grabbing a handful from his other box and putting it in her own.

Once they were finished eating, they moved back to Peeta's room to play some zombie game he had for the kinect. Cato must've been at a party because he was nowhere to be seen.

"Peeta! Calm down and stop freaking out. They aren't real!" Katniss said impatiently. They had been playing for ten minutes and every time the character had to go around a corner or a staircase, Peeta insisted that Katniss play. "Why on earth did you buy this game if it scares you?"

"I'm not scared! I'm just letting you have your turn," he explained. In reality, he just didn't like things popping out at him so he would pretend to be looking at magazine or something as opposed to watching the game. Katniss, on the other hand, thought the game was exciting. Since it was for the kinect, she had to mimic the actions of slaying a zombie in order to actually do it, and it was surprisingly fun for her.

"Your turn," she said, stepping out of the sensor's range. "Let's make a bet, whoever can survive the longest gets to pick out something we have to do."

"Er, okay, but nothing ridiculous like streaking or anything like that," Peeta said.

"Peeta what kind of person do you think I am?" She asked sarcastically. She started the stopwatch on her phone as Peeta swung around an invisible machete. He was on the verge of six whole minutes when his character turned around sharply, revealing a zombie, which caused Peeta to jump in real life and die in the game. Katniss was more focused and less worried about the nightmarish aspects of the game. By eight minutes, she was showing off.

"Alright, what do you want as your prize?" He asked.

"You have to go to another party with me," she said, looking very smug from her victory.

"If you say so," he laughed. He wasn't going to put up much of an argument, because he was actually looking forward to going to another party with her now that they were becoming closer.

They both climbed up onto his bunked bed, where they watched some random comedy that was too bland to remember the title or plot. At about halfway through the movie they must've dozed off, because Katniss woke up not realizing where she was. She opened her eyes and found herself resting on Peeta's chest, with both of his arms wrapped loosely around her waist. She couldn't even remember falling asleep in that position, but she quietly and slowly tried to get out of it. There was no avoiding waking him up and once she was out of his arms he finally woke up.

"Hey, I should probably get back to my room," she said with a yawn.

"Yeah, probably," he responded sleepily. She gave him one last smile and climbed off his bed.

"I'm glad it was my door you fell into," she said, opening the door slowly.

"Me too," he said, lazily waving his hand that had the cast.

"Night," she said, lingering by the door.

"Goodnight Katniss," he yawned, and with that she quietly closed the door behind her. He fell back asleep immediately after and only good things filled his dreams that night.

When Peeta woke up that Sunday morning, he saw Cato fast asleep in his bed. It was about 10 am and he silently cursed himself for not waking up earlier. He had planned on using this day as a Pippa day, but now he wasn't so sure if that was a good idea. It would mean that he'd have to go to chemistry class tomorrow as Pippa and bring clothes in his backpack to change into Peeta once the full 24 hours were up. He climbed out of bed and peered over at Cato to make sure he was in deep sleep. When he thought it was safe, he transformed into Pippa, got dressed, and left the room. He walked into the girl's bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready. Hopefully no one would question Pippa's presence in the bathroom, Peeta didn't even know half of his floor-mates so he doubted the girls would wonder who Pippa was.

When he opened the bathroom door, Katniss's singing voice filled the bathroom and he couldn't help but smile. He looked in the mirror and sighed because his long blonde hair wasn't cooperating that day. Usually his hair as Pippa was wavy and pretty easy to maintain, but on days like today, Peeta was easily frustrated. Luckily, he knew how to straighten hair, braid hair, and put up ponytails at this point, so he opted for a ponytail. Sure he felt weird at times, being a guy and being able to braid hair, but no one knows what it's like to live like that except for him. He was used to it. When Katniss voice belted out from the shower behind him, he was brought back to reality and put toothpaste on his toothbrush.

"Hey we get it, you can sing. Now how about you shut the fuck up, brainless?" the person in the stall next to Katniss asked. It took him a while to recognize the voice, but he knew it belong to Johanna Mason, Katniss's roommate.

"Oh Johanna, always so sweet," Katniss responded sarcastically. Peeta wondered if they knew they weren't alone, but he kept silent and continued brushing his teeth.

"Yeah, it's a gift what can I say? And you have some explaining to do, Everdeen," Johanna said. Peeta listened intently to find out what she meant by that.

"Whatever could you be talking about?" Katniss teased.

"You and baker boy! And don't play dumb; you know exactly what I'm talking about. You didn't come back to room until like what? 3 AM?" she inquired. At this point, he knew this wasn't a conversation he was meant to here. Part of him wanted to take off running, but the majority of him wanted to stay and hear what she had to say. He pulled his hair out the ponytail and started braiding, just in case the girls came out of the shower and didn't think Pippa was overhearing.

"There's really nothing to tell. Nothing happened, it's Peeta. He's too sweet and too innocent for anything to happen, it's actually kind of cute. I mean I'm definitely not putting him in the friendzone or anything, but being friends first isn't always a bad thing. We just hung out yesterday, that was it. Besides, I'm pretty sure school is his top priority right now and it's mine too! I'm not losing my scholarships over a boy," Katniss explained. Peeta sighed a breath of relief at her words. Yes they were both focused on school, but she wasn't ruling out the possibility of a relationship. The water turned off in Katniss's stall followed by Johanna and the two girls exited their respective showers.

"Hey, you said he was pretty well endowed when you saw him in here naked," Johanna said, nudging Katniss with a knowing smirk as they stood in front of the mirrors next to Pippa. They must've seen Pippa's eyes widen at the mention of the incident from Friday because Katniss quickly held up her hands in explanation.

"I am so sorry about Johanna! She can be very crude sometimes; I swear I'm not the slut she makes me out to be. My friend was really drunk on Friday and accidently took a shower in here. Don't worry though, he's a good guy and wasn't trying to do anything bad," Katniss said in Peeta's defense.

"Oh don't worry about it. I wasn't even paying attention to be honest. I was actually just heading out," Pippa explained. Secretly Peeta was overjoyed that Katniss was quick to come to his defense and that she thought he was "well endowed."

"Way to scare her away, Jo," Katniss said, slapping her friend's shoulder. Peeta chuckled in his mind and left the bathroom.

That was a very interesting encounter, but it shouldn't have happened. He decided that from now on, whenever he was Pippa he wouldn't overhear other people's conversations about himself. It wouldn't be fair to everyone else. He left for the library where he spent most of his day getting ahead in homework. By the time it was 9 pm and the library was closing, Peeta texted Cato asking if he was in the room.

**Peeta (9:01 pm): Hey I forgot my key, are you in the room?**

**Cato (9:01 pm): Yeah bro, Im studying. Want me to let u in?**

**Peeta (9:02 pm): You gonna be there the whole night?**

**Cato (9:02 pm): Uh yeah, it's a Sunday…**

**Cato (9:02 pm): Dude am I letting u in or not?**

**Peeta (9:03 pm): Nvm, I found my key. **

**Cato (9:03 pm): Ok**

Shit. There was no way he'd be able to go back to the room. He couldn't hang out in the lobby all night either. Although he only knew Finnick for a few weeks, he decided he could trust him enough with this secret. He was going to have to tell someone from here sooner or later. He texted Finnick asking if it was alright if he crashed at his dorm that night and Finnick agreed, but asked why. Peeta said that he would explain everything once he was with Finnick. When he arrived at hall four, he told Finnick to come outside. A few minutes later, Finnick was walking around the front of the hall looking for Peeta. Peeta took a deep breath and walked up to Finnick tapping him on the shoulder.

"Can I help you?" Finnick asked politely, yet confused.

"This is probably the strangest thing you're ever going to hear, but you need to keep calm and follow me," Pippa said, pointing in the direction they were headed.

"Sorry, you must have the wrong guy. I'm here meeting my friend Peeta," he said moving away from Pippa.

"Finnick, I know. Peeta is this way. I know this sounds strange and you don't know me, but you just have to trust me," Pippa pleaded.

"Okay… but only because you said Peeta is this way," he said skeptically. They walked for a few minutes, until they reached Haymitch's lab. Pippa pulled out a key and held the door open for Finnick. "Okay, where's Peeta?"

"Just listen to everything I have to say. Don't ask questions till I'm done talking and don't walk out. I'm Peeta," Pippa took a long pause and a deep breath. "I know that sounds strange and unbelievable but it's the truth. Long story short, I was born on November 11 at 11:11 and apparently wishes are supposed to come true at that time. Well my mom's wish was for me to be a girl, but I was born a boy. Now as a result of her wish, I have to be a girl four days out of every month. I know what you're thinking, 'she's psycho' or 'Peeta's a tranny', but I promise none of those are true. I didn't choose for this to happen and I know who I am. It's just a result of my selfish mother and a weird unexplainable phenomenon. Finnick, you have to believe me. I know it's a lot to lay on at once, but I need a friend."

Finnick just sat there in shock. "You're bullshitting me."

"I swear I'm not bullshitting you. I'll prove it in anyway that I can that I am Peeta," Pippa said.

"How do I know Peeta didn't tell you things that he'd know?" He questioned.

"Finn, you'll just have to trust me." Finnick stood silently and though about what he had just heard. He was still very skeptical, but he was willing to hear Pippa out.

"Tell me, how did Peeta meet his future girlfriend?" Finnick asked with a smirk.

"Katniss isn't my future girlfriend, but I was doing laundry then Cato hit me and made me fall back into her door where I sprained my wrist. Hence this same exact cast that you've seen me wear before as Peeta!" Pippa said, holding up "her" wrist with the cast.

"Well I mean you do look like Peeta as a girl, is there anyway you can physically prove it?" Finnick asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Well I'm not showing you my boobs dude. But tomorrow meet me after my chemistry class and when I go into the bathroom to change back to Peeta after my 24 hours are up, you can see me exit as Peeta. Then you'll know I'm not lying," "She" said, leading Finnick back out of the lab.

"So what's it like? Do you get a period? Do you have to shave? Why is your hair long and not short like your guy hair? Are you attracted guys? Is your name still Peeta? Do you really have boobs? Do you have a vagina? Have you ever got off as a girl? Who has it better?" Finnick rambled, his face lighting up with each new question.

"Whoa, slow down. How about we get to your room and explain everything. I know you live in a single, room so is it alright if I crash in your dorm," Pippa asked, locking the door of the lab as the exited.

"Well, I hate to be that guy, but we're gonna have to tell Annie. She's my girlfriend and I don't want her to think I'm cheating on her with you. No offense or anything, you are kinda hot though, but that's weird 'cause you're my bro," Finnick said.

"Finnick relax, it's alright. Can we just wait till we're in your room to tell Annie? I don't want anyone else to hear. And you both have to swear that you're not going to tell anyone," Pippa said as they made their way to hall four.

Convincing Annie that Pippa was Peeta went a lot quicker than Peeta had thought it would. At first Annie thought Finnick was breaking up with her, but then once they got into an explanation of who Pippa was, she realized that's not what he mean by "we need to talk."

"Okay, now I'll answer all your questions," Pippa said after Annie finally felt convinced.

"So first, period or no period?" Annie asked, leaning back against the wall by Finnick's bed.

"No period, thank goodness. I don't know what I'd do," Pippa replied. Finnick began to open his mouth, but Pippa cut him off knowing what he was going to ask. "No I don't shave, I don't really grow much hair to begin with so I don't worry about that. I usually wear jeans as a girl anyway. For the hair, I guess my mom wished for a daughter with long hair, other than that I have no explanation. I am not attracted to guys, I still have the same sexuality, but I just get stuck in this body for four days. I go by Pippa as a girl, only so people don't realize that it's me, Peeta. Yes I have boobs and everything else a girl has, I don't think they work though. I don't plan on having sex with any guys so I don't want any of the internal plumbing of Pippa to work anyway," "She" explained.

"I think we're both wondering the same thing, have you ever… you know, touched yourself as a girl?" Annie asked, which actually surprised Peeta. He didn't think she'd be so open about asking that sort of question.

"Okay I'll be honest, at first I was hesitant because I felt like I was touching someone else, but then my brothers told me it could help me with girls in the future. If I was in one's body then I'd be able to know where you guys like to be touched so then when I have a girlfriend I could use that knowledge. So yeah I have, once I was comfortable enough to accept that it was my body," Pippa explained.

"Holy shit, you're probably a sexpert or something. So jealous, but Katniss will love it," he said, slapping Pippa's back.

"That's another thing. You guys can't tell anyone, especially not Katniss. It's already weird enough to deal with on my own, I don't wanna bring her into it." Pippa looked down sadly and played with "her" fingers to keep "herself" busy.

"I think you should tell her when you're ready. She'd be accepting, maybe a little weirded out at first, but eventually accepting," Annie offered sympathetically.

"Thanks Annie, but I think I'm just gonna keep it between us three. So you don't mind if I stay here with Finnick, right? I can't exactly go back to my dorm with Cato there and everything," Pippa sighed.

"Just keep your hands off my man, and Finnick try not to hit on Peeta—I mean Pippa—too much," Annie joked, walking over to Finnick. She gave him a kiss goodbye and waved to Pippa, then left them.

"Dude, I just have to say it. You're hot. It could be worse, you could be an ugly girl," Finnick admitted.

"Thanks," Pippa said sarcastically.

"But seriously Peeta—err I mean Pippa—you're pretty lucky!" Finnick exclaimed.

"It's alright Finnick. You can still call me Peeta, but lucky isn't exactly the word I'd use. It sucks because it's living proof of how disappointed my mom was in my birth. Four days out of every month I'm reminded of it. Yeah, lucky me," "she" sighed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in that way. I just meant that you'll probably be a really great boyfriend 'cause you can actually think like a girl," Finnick tried to explain.

"I know you meant well. And sadly it doesn't work like that. Even though I'm in a girl's body, I still think like male Peeta, but thanks for trying to make me feel better. Anyway, I think I'm going to go to sleep. Thanks for letting me crash here," Pippa said, rolling out the blow up mattress. Once it was inflated and dressed with sheets, they said goodnight and turned out the lights.

The next morning, Peeta explained to Finnick that after his chem class he'd go to the bathroom at the lab and transform from Pippa back into his usual self. Instead of sitting in the seat he normally sat in for chemistry lecture, he decided to sit somewhere just to be safe. The whole class he kept staring at his watch, counting down the minutes until he'd be able to be himself again. As soon as class was dismissed, he sprinted to the research lab, which earned him some whistles and catcalls, since he was still Pippa. Finnick was there waiting for him with his clothes, he also wanted to be there to make sure Peeta was telling the truth. Once he was back to his normal self, Finnick was glad to see that Peeta wasn't lying and told him that he'd go tell Annie that it was all true.

Relieved to be back in his own body, he checked the time and saw he still had about another hour until human sexuality. He then decided to text Katniss and find out what she was doing before class.

**Peeta (10:31 am): Hey it's Peeta, busy?**

**Katniss (10:31 am): Hey Mellark. Extremely, I'm counting the blades of grass outside the Hob. **

Since he had little experience with girls, he didn't know if he should ask her to hang out or just wait till they saw each other in class. He did hang out with her basically all weekend so he didn't want to overwhelm, but his question was answered when his phone buzzed not too soon after.

**Katniss (10:32 am): I could always use some help with this grass counting though.**

The hob was one of their study and dining areas on campus. It had a Starbucks, a bagel place, a fast-food restaurant, a computer lab, a lounger, study rooms, and several chairs to sit and study in. Outside it also had several benches, so Peeta walked to the outdoor area and looked around for Katniss. She was sitting under a tree, knees pulled up to her chest with a book in one hand. He walked up to her and dropped his backpack down beside her.

"Tired of counting grass?" he asked jokingly.

"Just a little," she responded, sitting with her legs crisscrossed. "Mind if I borrow your book for a sec? I didn't finish the last page we had to read for sex class."

"Yeah, go ahead. I'm getting some tea from Starbucks, want anything?" he asked looking down at her.

"Hmm, surprise me," she answered and unzipped his backpack. When he returned he froze when he saw his Pippa clothing out on the ground in front of Katniss. Shit! He completely forgot that the clothing was still in his backpack.

"Damn, I've heard of guys taking home trophies from one night stands, but this is something new," Katniss said when she saw Peeta walking towards her. He was at a loss for words, but he knew he'd have to make something up soon.

"Oh, those are some clothes I found in my dryer when I was doing laundry the other day. I forgot to take them to the lost and found, silly me," he clarified.

"Right, okay, so what'd you get me?" she asked. He could tell she wasn't convinced by his response, but he was glad she wasn't pressing further.

"I got you some hot chocolate and this pastry you can dip in it," he smiled, pleased with his purchase.

"Thanks, good choice," she answered, taking the hot chocolate and little bag from him. He sat down next to her and sipped his tea, watching her expressions of enjoyment as she drank the hot chocolate. "Yes, this was definitely a good decision! Mind if I try some of yours?"

"Sure," he said, handing her his tea. The temperature was a warm out for hot chocolate, but he was glad that she didn't mind. As soon as she took a sip of his tea though, she made a face of disgust. "What's wrong?"

"Did you put anything in this tea?" she asked, staring at him quizzically.

"No, I don't like sugar in my tea. Why?"

"No wonder it tastes so bland," she said, handing the tea back to him. He just laughed and continued drinking his own tea.

They spent the rest of that hour up until class talking about the project that would be coming up soon. Once they were in class, where they met up with Madge, their professor brought up the presentation once again. Peeta was hoping that Katniss would partner up with Madge, because he didn't want to think about how awkward it could be to do a presentation about sex with Katniss. But of course, Katniss turned to him and asked him to be her partner. There was no way he could say no. Madge didn't even look upset at all that Katniss had picked Peeta over her. It was almost as if this was planned. This was going to be a very interesting project…

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry it took so long to update and sorry that this chapter is pretty much filler. I've had a major case of writer's block. I promise the story will move a little faster in the upcoming chapters, I just needed to establish a few things first with these slower chapters. I also promise there will be more Katniss and Pippa encounters. They'll interact more in the future, but a few things need to happen first. Also sorry about all the pronouns when talking about Pippa and Peeta. It's really difficult deciding which to use, but hopefully I did a good job of saying what needed to be said. Also for those of you who wonder what Pippa looks like: I left "her" description semi-vague so then you all could imagine your own Pippa, but personally I' like to think of Pippa as looking very similar to Teresa Palmer (with Josh being my Peeta.)

Find me on tumblr: jflawlesss


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **I'd like to apologize for how long it took to update, but I was on vacation for a while. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it.

* * *

The next two weeks went by rather quickly. The Wednesday after Katniss had become Peeta's project partner, Haymitch sent in blood from both Peeta and Pippa in order to get his karyotype. The results wouldn't be in for another month though. Luckily for Peeta, he had already been Pippa four times throughout the month of August, so he no longer had to worry about that until September, which was right around the corner. Also, Peeta was now Katniss's permanent lab partner during chem lab and their project in human sexuality was well on its way to being done. The professor ended up assigning them to the topic of the sexualization of music and dance. They were finished with the written part of the assignment, but 50% of their grade was based off an in-class presentation of their topic. This was the part of the assignment that Peeta was most nervous about because their professor strongly suggested they do a dance for the class or play some music. Katniss decided to meet him in the fine arts building Monday after class to discuss possible presentation ideas.

"I know Professor Chaff suggested we do a dance, but I honestly don't really know any dances. And before you say anything about me singing some super sexual song like 'Motivation' or 'Milkshake' you can guess again, 'cause I'm not singing in front of our class. You're lucky you even got to hear me sing, because I don't usually sing for anyone to hear besides myself," Katniss said.

"Well you should. You're amazing, but I'm not going to make you do something you don't want to do," Peeta replied. What Katniss didn't know was that Peeta's mom forced him into ballroom dance lessons when was younger, because she refused to put him in sports. He actually enjoyed it because it improved his balance and it was at least one thing he could do that would make his mother proud. However, his senior year of high school he stopped competing in ballroom dance and joined the wrestling team because he realized it still wouldn't be enough for his mom. He would never be able to make her happy. At least the dance lessons could work for this.

"Good, so what are we gonna do then? Ugh, if Prim were here she could help us," Katniss sighed, pacing around the dance studio.

"How?" Peeta asked. He walked up to the balance bar in the studio and sat under it, leaning against the mirror.

"She was in dance back before my dad died. I know she hasn't done it in a while, but it's still more than I know. Fuck this project!" she groaned, dropping down beside him. He still didn't want to admit his knowledge of dance so he let her continue to complain.

"Well dancing isn't too hard. We can just watch videos or something. Heck, you could even make it up if you want," he reasoned. She made a face suggesting she was thinking about it and then sighed.

"Oh fine, I'll think of something," She said, getting up off the floor. She held out her hand for Peeta to grab and pulled him up when he did.

"So should we do one of the dances we wrote about? Salsa could be a good, fun dance to present," Peeta suggested, walking around Katniss in a circle.

"Yeah that'd be cool…if I knew how to salsa!" she said sarcastically. "Let's just go get changed and then we'll meet back here after."

"Alright," he answered back. Peeta walked into the men's room and changed out of his regular clothes into some workout clothes suitable for dancing. When he met Katniss back in the dance studio he gasped at the sight of her in tight fitting yoga pants and a loose-fitting long sleeve shirt.

"Keep that mouth open any longer and you might swallow a fly," she joked, making her way towards him. He chuckled and shook his head, meeting her in the middle of the room.

"So any ideas for our dance routine?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. She pulled down on the sleeves of her shirt so that they went past her hands and made a noise indicating no, she had no ideas. "Alright, how about I choreograph it then?"

"Ha ha, good joke. Do you even know how to dance, white boy?" she asked teasingly.

"Hey! I take offense to that," he said, feigning hurt. "But yes, I can dance, believe it or not. I was in competitive ballroom for a long time, which is pretty convenient for this assignment. I didn't want to bring it up unless it was absolutely necessary though, and it seems like it is."

"Well, impressive. Are you the next Derek Hough? Should I look out for you on Dancing with the Stars?" She mocked him, trying not to laugh.

"Very funny. Look if you're going to mock me, then we'll just play some music and a slideshow. I had to deal with people making fun of me enough back home, I don't need it here in college," Peeta said, turning towards the door.

"No, wait. I'm sorry. I speak before I think. It's terrible, I know. I really didn't mean to hurt you. Forgive me?" She asked sincerely.

"Of course," he said, smiling and walking back toward her. "But you have to listen to my instructions and you have to take this seriously. It's my grade at stake too."

"I know, my grade is important to me too. Just tell me what to do," Katniss said, standing next to him.

"So I've got several songs on this playlist to warm us up," he said, plugging his iPod into the iHome he brought with him. "Dance however you want and we'll just go from there."

The first song to play was 'Cinema' by Benny Benassi. It was a fast pace song, but Peeta wanted to see what Katniss would do.

"Oh my god, this is my song! I heard this song with Jo and Madge at a club once and we were dan—I mean… this song is okay I guess," she said, trying to calm down.

"Does Katniss Everdeen like to dance?" Peeta asked teasingly.

"Shut up, "she said, pushing his shoulder. He laughed and changed the song. The next song to come on was 'Alive' by Krewella and Katniss started laughing the minute she realized what song it was.

"What is this Peeta, a club or something? This isn't exactly ballroom music," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. He shook his head, chuckling, and dimmed the lights in the studio.

"It's just to get you loose, we're not gonna actually dance to this in front of anyone. Come on, dance with me," he said, walking in front of her. "Relax, it's just you and me."

She took a deep breath and shook out her arms. He started moving his body with the beat and throwing his arms around dancing weirdly. She couldn't help but laugh and watch him.

"Please tell me you didn't dance like that, because I don't know how you won anything," she said laughing.

"I'm just trying to get you loose and comfortable with me," he said, smiling. He grabbed her hands and pulled them back and forth moving her. It took her a while to get into it, but soon she found herself bouncing around with him to the song. She finally got into the song and even started to sing along with it. Peeta let go of her hands to show her some more advanced dance moves that he learned. It was a mixture of a robotic dance with some hip-hop, and Katniss found it very entertaining to watch.

The next song was a huge change of pace, 'You and Me' by Lifehouse. Peeta had completely forgotten that it was even on that playlist. The playlist was just named "Dance", so he assumed it would be fast songs only. Rather than change the song, he just held out a hand to Katniss and held her hip in his other hand. She took his hand, hesitantly at first, but then held it firmly. He led the dance and they moved in a fashion similar to the waltz. After a while, they slowed down the pace and danced in a manner more similar to two high schoolers at prom. Katniss smiled at Peeta and rested her head on his shoulder, pulling herself closer to him. Peeta couldn't contain his smile and Katniss couldn't help but laugh when she saw his smile in the mirror of the studio.

"If this is too cheesy I can just change—"

"Shhh, don't ruin this," Katniss interrupted, placing a finger over his lips. Peeta really wanted to tilt her head up to him and kiss her, but he wasn't sure if it was an appropriate time. They swayed together until the song ended and by that time, Peeta decided that it was too late to try and kiss her now. When the song ended, Katniss let go of Peeta and stepped away from him a little, giving him some space.

"I'd say we're pretty comfortable with each other," she said, laughing a little and nudging him with her arm.

"Yeah," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"So what's next teacher?" she asked, looking down at her feet. It was so out of character for Katniss to be nervous, much less show her nervousness, but there was something so new about this that she couldn't help it.

"Well, now I'll teach you some steps," he said, scrolling through his iPod for the song he wanted. He picked out this Spanish song called "Siempre Tu" by Diego Boneta and placed the iPod on the dock. "I know it's going to take a while for you to get these steps but if we practice up until the presentation, then I think we can manage."

He started off by showing her some simple footwork and explained how salsa is all about the spins and movement of the body. She stepped on his feet on more than one occasion, but he didn't seem to mind. He didn't want to make things too complicated on their first day, so after some simple steps he pulled open his laptop to show her some youtube videos. They sat down on the ground next to each other to watch. Peeta clicked on the first video he saw and her jaw dropped.

"There is no fucking way I'm gonna be able to do that in this amount of time!" she exclaimed, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Katniss, relax, those are professionals. They've had years of practice. I'm not asking you to do that, we'll just do beginner step," Peeta explained.

"I'm going to look so stupid," she huffed.

"No you won't, I promise. You'll be the sexiest salsa dancer this class has seen," he smiled.

"So you think I'm sexy?" She teased.

"I—um, well," he stuttered, searching for the right words.

"…Well?" She asked, scooting closer to him.

"Well, maybe if you learned the dance, Everdeen, you would be," he said, turning to play the song again. He then stood up, holding a hand out for her.

"Well played, Mellark. Well played," she said, taking his hand. He pulled her to her feet and then pulled on her hand again so she moved into his arms.

She did the steps that he showed her and swayed her hips like he explained, while he did his own steps. He decided to spin her around, now that she was getting the hang of the simple back and forth steps. She was actually beginning to get the hang of the whole dancing thing. For fun, Katniss tried spinning Peeta. She held up her arms, rapidly spinning him under. With the turn, he tripped over his untied shoelace and collided with the ballet bar on the mirror. Everything went black then white, and moments later he opened his eyes to see Katniss hovering over him. There was a white haze around her and he figured it would eventually go away.

"Are you okay?" She asked, touching his forehead.

"Yeah, it was my own fault," he said, getting back up. He rubbed his head, then offered Katniss a hand. "Back to dancing?"

"Sure," she nodded, taking his hand. This time they were dancing a lot closer, basically grinding, but Peeta wasn't about to ruin the moment. He spun her again, feeling more confident in her dancing abilities. When she spun, she landed pressed up against his body with her face dangerously close to his.

He could feel her warm breath on his face. It was as if the song disappeared and the only thing that he could hear was her quickened breath. Not wanting to lose another chance, he closed his eyes and closed the distance between them. Her lips were soft, but the kiss was anything but. Just like the fast paced dance, their kiss was filled with heat. She slipped her fingers into his curls and pulled him closer to her. He let a moan escape into her mouth. This was finally happening. His hands slid down, onto her waist and he pulled her closer to him. He could tell they were both at a loss for air, but he didn't want to be the first to pull away. As if she realized what he was thinking, she pulled away sucking his bottom lip in the process.

Her cheeks were flushed, as were his, but after a moment of breathing she kissed him again. This time she traced his lip with her tongue, and he responded by opening his mouth. With his permission, she slid her tongue into his mouth.

Sure he had kissed girls before, however with Katniss it felt so different. He moaned in response to her actions, but he heard someone in the background calling him. It sounded strangely like Katniss, but they were kissing weren't they?

"Peeta, wake up! I really don't want to call an ambulance but if I have to I will," Katniss said, faintly in the background. It was then that he realized that the kiss was all just a short dream induced by the hit he took to his head.

"It's fine, don't call anyone," he said, rubbing his forehead.

"Oh thank God you're okay," Katniss cried holding him against her chest. He definitely wasn't going to complain. Peeta noticed she was just in a sports bra, so he was able to see some cleavage. He opened his mouth to ask where her shirt went, but she responded even before he could get the question out. "I used my shirt as pillow while you were blacked out."

"How long was I out for?" he asked, moving off her chest and sitting against the wall.

"A minute or two, not very long," she said, pulling her shirt back on. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, I swear," he promised, flashing her a smile. It wasn't until he got up from sitting that he realized his dream and the sight of her cleavage had affected him. He tried to get rid off his growing problem by thinking of his mom in her horrible Christmas outfit, but it was no use. He couldn't get the images of Katniss out of his head. He sat back down against the wall and pulled his knees to his chest, trying to hide his erection.

"I think we've had enough practice for today. Do you want to go back to the hall?" Katniss said, walking over to where he was sitting. She held out a hand for him, but he shook his head.

"You can go ahead if you'd like. I'm just gonna relax here for a bit. I still feel a little woozy," he lied.

"Again, sorry about that. I guess I'll see you later then?" She said, picking up her backpack.

"Yeah, see you later," he said, waving to her. She waved back and disappeared out the door. Peeta finally let out the breath he had been holding. He really needed to learn to control these thoughts, especially around Katniss. He just hoped the rest of their dance practices would go by more smoothly.

They agreed on meeting after classes for the rest of the week and continued working on the dance they had been learning. Katniss wasn't the quickest learner, she was actually very stubborn, but Peeta did his best to teach her the moves.

On the Wednesday after their rehearsal, Katniss lingered by the door as Peeta packed away his iHome. She tapped on the door frame with her fingers and cleared her throat.

"Yeah?" Peeta asked, while zipping up his gym bag.

"So Gale's frat is having a party tonight," she said casually.

"Mhmm," he responded, slinging the bag over his shoulder. He then walked over to where she was standing and pointed out the door, signaling for them to leave. He secretly hoped she would invite him, even though he technically knew he was always invited to go with her to the parties. It just made Peeta feel better when she would personally tell him that she wanted him there.

"And their having this thing called The Drunken Games," she said, opening the door leading out the fine arts building.

"The drunken games?" Peeta questioned, running his fingertips along the railings of the stairs as he walked down them.

"Yeah, the it's like all the usual party games, but you see who can win them all as you get drunk," she explained. "The winners get a trophy and bragging rights. Anyway, it would be so cool if you—"

"I know it'd be cool for me to be on your team and all, but drinking games aren't really my thing. Besides, it's a Wednesday," he shrugged.

"Actually, I was just gonna say it'd be cool if you could bake some things for it," she admitted.

"Oh," he said, his voice dropping. He honestly had no idea why he believed Katniss would find him cool or a good teammate for that sort of thing. He could feel his cheeks getting red from embarrassment so he stared at his feet while they walked to their dorm.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you'd be a great teammate. It's like you said, you're not really into that," she offered. "So do you think you'd be able to? Gale would really appreciate it, and I would too."

"Yeah, sure. I'll do it," he agreed. At least it would make her happy.

When they arrived at their hall, Peeta went straight to the kitchen to work on some cookies. He wasn't really in the mood for talking to Katniss, so he didn't invite her to help. Although he was pretty sure she'd probably decline anyway. Maybe he was being too hard on her, after all they had only been friends for a month or so. It still hurt no matter what.

After the cookies were done, Peeta knocked on Katniss's door. He had baked chocolate chip cookies and even put them in a Tupperware for her.

"Thank you so much, Peeta," she said, taking the Tupperware from him.

"Don't mention," he replied, shifting his weight from side to side.

"You're welcome to come if you want," she offered, setting the cookies on the desk beside her.

"I'm sure you've seen enough of me for today," he laughed, forcing a smile on his face.

"Did I say I was complaining?" she teased. He stared as her pink tongue ran across her lips. A smile started to creep across his face, but then realized he was trying to be mad at her. It was a hard thing to do though.

"No, but anyway have fun," he said.

"See you, Mellark," she giggled, closing the door.

After his cookie delivery, he returned to his room and climbed up on his bed. What a fun night he was having. Finnick had texted Peeta later that night telling him to join him and Annie at the party, but Peeta replied by saying he was feeling sick, which technically wasn't a lie. He was feeling pretty bad about the incident with Katniss earlier. He hoped that their relationship wouldn't be like this in the future. Getting walked was something Peeta did not want to experience, especially by Katniss.

At around 1 am, Peeta felt his phone vibrate while he was sketching. He had already told Finnick he wasn't going, so he had no idea who would be texting him. Katniss had left him about two new text messages.

**Katniss (1:04 am): Why didn yu come? I missss you melarlk**

Oh shit, she was drunk texting him. He was really in no mood to deal with that.

**Katniss (1:04 am): Id ont wanna play anymoe but gale says gogogogo! Im tired he wants to win tho**

For a minute, Peeta thought she might be in trouble, but once he realized she was Gale he figured there was nothing wrong. He went back to his sketch but then he decided texted Finnick just to make sure Finnick would watch out for her. Seconds later his phone buzzed twice, one message from Finn and one from Katniss.

**Finnick (1:15 am): FUCK! No one's seen her in a while. I guess Gale switched her for a frat bro when she started losing and no one's seen her since. Annie and I are looking for her! Try texting her!**

**Katniss (1:15 am): Peeta, plz get me. I don wanna play. Gale got a new parter. Im gonna walk home.**

As upset as he was earlier, Peeta realized he needed to find her. Frat row was a long walk from their dorm and it would be way too dangerous for her to walk back at night, drunk or sober. Plus she helped him once when he was drunk. He pulled on his jacket and slid on his shoes then ran out the door, grabbing his keys.

When he got to the parking lot, he sped out to the road. At this point he didn't care if a cop pulled him over. Katniss was in trouble, besides, he was only going 10 over the limit.

Once he was at frat row, he slowed down and searched the sidewalks for her. Peeta was getting really worried and Finnick had yet to spot her as well. Finally he saw her trying to tightrope walk on the curb by one of the frat houses. He pulled up next to her and got out.

"Peeta you came!" she exclaimed, her words slightly slurred. "Why weren't you there? I like hanging out with you." She threw her arms around him once he approached her.

"Let's get you back to the hall," he suggested, trying to pull her to the car.

She slid one hand up to his hair and tangled her fingers in in it. Then she breathed in his scent and sighed, shifting more of her weight onto him. He tried to stand her up, but she kept swaying.

"You smell so good. It makes me happy because you smell like cinnamon. I like you! You wanna know why?" she giggled, shrugging out of his arms. She walked back onto the curb wobbling from lack of balance and he stood behind her, ready to catch her if she fell.

"Why?" he asked, following her.

"Because you're a painter. You're a baker. You like to sleep with the windows open, even though you shouldn't in a dorm. You never take sugar in your tea. And you always double-knot your shoelaces. I like that and I like you," she laughed, jumping off the curb. She was very, very intoxicated. There was no way she'd being saying this if she was sober. She fell back into his arms when she jumped off the curb and he walked her over to the car.

Once she was seated he helped her buckle up. When they were back at the hall, he had to carry Katniss upstairs bridal style because she was taking too long to walk up the stairs by herself. When they were upstairs he knocked on her door, but she said that Johanna was probably asleep or not back yet.

"Look, just let me in and I'll sleep fine," she said, with a slur still evident in her words. He asked her for her keys, but she realized she had left them with Gale, who would be sleeping at the frat house that night.

"You want me to bring you to Annie and Madge?" he asked, as Katniss leaned against the wall. Johanna still wasn't back from the party she had gone to, so Katniss wouldn't be able to get back in her room until who knows when.

"How about I sleep with you? Well not sleep with you, but sleep in your room. Not that I wouldn't mind sleeping with you," she suggested, nudging his arm with her elbow.

"Sure, if you're not going to be uncomfortable or anything," he agreed, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"Peeta, I won't. Please, please, please," she begged, pulling him towards his room. He unlocked the room and saw that Cato was still out.

"Alright, I guess I can sleep on the floor or something," he suggested.

"No, come up here with me," she said pointing to his bed.

"I don't know Katniss, are you sure?" he asked, nervously.

"I like you, remember? Besides, it is your room and bed," she said, putting her arms around his waist. He gulped and nodded. Then Katniss pulled off her shirt and Peeta's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"You could've told me to turn away!" He exclaimed, covering his eyes.

"I don't care, silly," she giggled. Drunk Katniss was definitely a handful. He didn't want to take advantage of her though, so he kept his eyes covered.

He heard one of his drawers open and when she said it was okay for him to open his eyes, he saw Katniss in nothing but one of his large long sleeve shirts.

"I love this thing," she said, hugging the shirt. She climbed up into his bed and patted the spot next to her. "Come on up!"

He pulled off his jacket and shoes, put on some pants and a shirt, turned off the light, and then climbed up next to her, laying on top the covers.

"Ugh, Peeta don't be stupid," she said in disgust.

"Excuse me?" he asked, confused.

"I know you don't sleep like that, it's okay. Just take off your clothes and sleep in your boxers. I don't mind," she said, pulling at his shirt.

"Katniss, I'm okay. I promise," he said, pushing her hand away.

"Please, I just want you to be comfortable," she whined, pawing at his shirt.

"Okay fine," he conceded. He threw his clothes off next to his bed, then turned on his side facing away from her and tried to fall asleep. After some time, he felt her leg hook over his waist. He tried to shrug out of it, thinking she was asleep and doing it on accident, but then she shifted her weight so she was on top of him straddling him. She definitely had a lot to drink that night, if the smell of liquor and beer didn't give it away.

"Um Katniss, what are you doing?" he barely managed to get out. His heartbeat was increasing and his breathing quickened.

She leaned in close to his lips then whispered, "Damn Peeta, you have no idea how much I wanna kiss you."

He swallowed and tried to think clearly. "Katniss you're drunk. This is wrong, just try and sleep," he whispered.

"Please Peeta, kiss me," she said, running her fingers up and down his chest. She kissed the corner of his mouth and rocked her hips over his. "I know you want this, I can feel it." He cursed at himself for already getting hard, but he knew he didn't want any physical interaction with Katniss to be like this. He shifted so that he was on top and held her down.

"Oh I like when a man takes charge," she said, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"Just go to sleep Katniss, if you still want me to kiss you in the morning I will," he settled.

"Okay, Mellark," she yawned and unwrapped her legs. They both laid down facing away from each other. It didn't take long after for both of them to fall asleep, and sometime during the night, they managed to find each others embrace.

When Katniss woke up early next morning, she was surprise to find herself lying on the chest of a half naked Peeta. She peered over to the other side of the room and sighed a breath of relief when she realized Johanna wasn't in her bed. But after a while, she realized it wasn't her bed or her room that she was in.

'_Ugh, I don't remember a single thing. Fuck, I must've slept with Peeta. Shit way to go Katniss, great way to lose your virginity. I wonder if I told him I was a virgin. He probably thought I wasn't. Fuck did I take his virginity? Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I can't believe we would sleep together though. It doesn't make sense. He wouldn't do that, would he?" _she thought to herself, trying to slip out of his arms quietly. She climbed off his bed and picked up her clothes. Then she tiptoed across the room and tried to open the door quietly, but it made a loud creaking noise. Fuck.

"Katniss," Peeta murmured. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Where are you going?"

"Look, I'm sure we had a good night, but I really didn't mean for any of this to happen," she blurted.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, looking very confused.

"Us having sex, it was an accident. I was really drunk," she said, closing the door behind her. She walked back to his bed, climbed up and sat on the edge.

"Katniss, we—" he started to say, but she cut him off.

"No, look I've never drunkenly slept with someone. Don't worry I'm sure it was consensual so you don't have to think about that," she rambled. Peeta grabbed her wrists and stilled her looking directly into her eyes.

"Katniss, stop talking. We never had sex. You were drunk and decided to walk home alone last night. I picked you up after you texted me, then we came back here and you realized you left your keys with Gale. Johanna wasn't there, so we decided that you would crash here. You insisted that I sleep up there with you because it was my bed, so I agreed. That was all that happened," Peeta explained.

"Oh," she said, embarrassed.

"Yeah, besides, do you honestly think I'd sleep with you while you were drunk?" he asked.

"No," she smiled. "You're too nice. Thank you, for all that. Especially after the way I basically used you yesterday. That was really shitty of me."

"Don't even worry about it, I like baking. It helps me relax," he shrugged. "You should probably go back to your room now though, unless you plan on skipping class."

Katniss's eyes widened. She jumped off the bed, cursing, and ran out the door. Just as Peeta was getting off the bed too, Katniss poked her head through the door again.

"Thanks again," she said, smiling. With that she disappeared, shutting the door behind her.

* * *

When Peeta saw Katniss during chem lab that day, she was acting a little more reserved that usual. He assumed that she was still a little embarrassed by what happened earlier that morning. Professor Cinna was trying to pull up a video on the projector while the class sat around. Peeta turned to Katniss and moved a little closer so he could whisper to her.

"So you know how this weekend is a long weekend?" Peeta asked, turning to see if Cinna was watching still busy.

"Mhmm," Katniss responded, jotting down what was written on the chalkboard.

"Well I talked to Finnick and we thought it'd be pretty fun if we all take a mini road trip," he said. Katniss's eyes lit up and she turned to face him.

"Oh my god, where to?" she asked, excitedly.

"We were thinking Miami. It's like a six hour drive from Gainesville, but we thought we'd leave possibly tonight and come back on Monday night," he explained, but her expression fell.

"I don't know, I mean I have class tomorrow and I don't think I should miss any," she said, looking back at her notebook.

"Skipping a few classes isn't going to affect your scholarship, I swear," he said, trying to convince her.

"Still, I don't really have the money to be paying for a trip like that," she explained.

"What do you mean? We're taking my car, so you don't have to pay anything to travel. Where's the adventurous Katniss I know?" Peeta asked, looking back at Cinna.

"Right behind responsible Katniss," she replied. Cinna finally managed to pull up the video, which cut their conversation short. Katniss moved her stool away from Peeta a little. After what happened that morning, she was really confused about where she was at in regards to her feelings for Peeta. On the one hand, she really valued their friendship. On the other, she couldn't deny the spark between them. To add to that, she remembered the strangest dream where she tried to kiss Peeta and basically dry-humped him on his bed…at least she hoped it was a dream.

Peeta saw her staring out of the corner of his eye and turned to smile at her. Usually when he caught her staring, she'd just wink and smile back at him. However, this time she blushed and turned away. He leaned in close to her ear so he could whisper, "come on Everdeen, it won't be as fun without you."

"Can we just talk about this after class?" she asked, shrugging away from him.

"Yeah, okay," he responded, giving her a confused look.

The rest of the class went by filled with tension and silence. Once Cinna dismissed the class, Peeta was almost surprised that Katniss didn't dart out. Instead, she waited for him to finish packing up his stuff.

"So I've been thinking and…" Katniss started to say.

"…And?" Peeta asked, waiting for her response.

"And I'll go, but could we invite Johanna, Madge, and Gale? I'd feel really bad if they knew we went and didn't invite them," she said, opening the door of the chem lab for them.

"Oh, um, sure. I mean I only have space for five, but we can just figure everything out. I'm sure someone else has a car too," he said, holding the door open of the chemistry building for her.

"Great, I'm gonna go talk to them, but I'll see you later," she said smiling.

"See ya," he said, as she walked in the opposite direction. It wasn't that he had a problem with Madge, or Johanna, or even Gale. He just had a problem with Gale and Katniss together. He'd probably end up being the odd man out now.

Peeta continued walking until he got to hall four. Finnick met him outside and led him upstairs.

"So is she going?" Finnick asked, letting them onto his floor.

"Yeah, but she asked if she could invite Johanna, Madge, and Gale. Looks like it's the whole gang," Peeta sighed.

"Well maybe they're all busy," Finnick suggested, as he unlocked his room. Peeta walked over to Finnick's desk chair and sat down.

"Yeah, all three of them? I don't even have a problem with any of them, I just don't want Katniss to ditch me," Peeta said.

"Well think of it this way, if she ditches you for Gale then you know it wasn't really meant to be right now. If that's the case, then you can start getting over her or something," he offered.

"Thanks for that wonderful thought, Finnick," Peeta said sarcastically.

They decided to start loading up Peeta's car with Finnick and Annie's things while they waited to hear from the others. When they got to Annie and Madge's room, Madge explained that she couldn't go because she had a sorority event to go to on Saturday. If she missed, then the sorority would fine her.

* * *

While Peeta and Finnick were packing, Katniss was talking to Johanna about the trip. They were in the dorm room sitting on the respective beds while they talked.

"It'll be fun Johanna! You, me, Gale, Peeta, Annie, and Finnick," Katniss listed, sliding off her bed. She walked towards Johanna and started pulling on her arm.

"You're gonna leave bruises on me, brainless!" Johanna yelled. "As fun as it sounds, I don't feel like playing the third wheel."

"I swear Gale and I won't run off again. It was just a summer fling," Katniss explained, letting go of Johanna's arm.

"Oh I'm not worried about you and Gale, but I know someone who will be," Johanna hinted.

"Peeta? No, it's not like that," Katniss stated. She walked back to her side of the room looking away.

"Oh really, then how come I woke up to you in his clothes sneaking in the dorm this morning," she teased.

"Like I said, I was drunk and forgot my keys. You weren't home so he offered his bed and I accepted. And we slept and I may or may not havetriedtokisshim, " Katniss admitted.

"You what?!" Johanna cried out. She ran up to Katniss and turned her around. "Excuse me, explain."

"So at first I thought I dreamed it, but I didn't. I told him that I wanted to kiss him and I started straddling him and ughhh," she groaned. "That's why I want you to come on this trip. He probably remembers and just didn't want to embarrass me by saying something. I need you to come so we don't get into anymore…'situations.'"

"What's wrong with getting into 'situations'?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't know. Peeta's a great guy, don't get me wrong, but I can tell he wants more from me than I can give. I'm just not really a relationship type," Katniss explained, playing with her braid.

"Just hear me out. Don't invite Gale and see where things go with Peeta. Watch how the weekend plays out, okay?" Johanna advised.

"I guess your right. I do really like him and he's damn good looking, so I guess it can't hurt," Katniss reasoned.

"Good, and you better text me all the juicy details. Make sure to pack cute lingerie," Johanna teased.

"Shut up, Jo," Katniss said, jokingly pushing her friend.

Katniss decided to follow Johanna's advice and told Peeta that it would just be her going on the trip with Finnick and Annie. Once they were all packed and loaded, Peeta drove his car over to hall four to pick up Finnick and Annie. They emerged from the hall with Finnick's arm slung over Annie's shoulder. At the sight of Peeta's car, Finnick gave Peeta s thumbs up with his other hand. He opened the car for Annie, and Katniss got out of the front seat to let them get in the back.

"Nice car Peeta!" Finnick exclaimed as he slapped his hands on Peeta's shoulders from behind.

"Thanks, I worked really hard to get it," Peeta said, as he turned the car back on. "We've got a six hour car ride, so we should get there at around 9 or 10."

"It's a good thing we're leaving semi early," Katniss said, as she opened up her air vent.

It was about 3pm when they left Gainesville, and they'd have a long ride ahead of them. Katniss was excited to be spending the weekend in a place like Miami, but she was also anxious to be spending a whole entire weekend with Peeta. Even though they were going with Finnick and Annie, she knew there'd be times when the couple would want alone time. She wasn't going to complain though, like Johanna said, Peeta deserved a chance and she was willing to give him one this weekend.

* * *

**Follow me on tumblr _Jflawlesss_**


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